The greatest European Cup comebacks of all-time

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With Bayern Munich aiming to do the seemingly impossible by turning around a three-goal deficit against Barcelona, Goal takes a look at the history of European fightbacks... Bayern Munich are widely expected to tumble out of the Champions League on Tuesday. Facing a 3-0 deficit against Barcelona - widely regarded as the most formidable team in the world right now - with injuries to key players and four successive defeats, predictions are far from favourable towards Pep Guardiola's men. And yet the Champions League and its European Cup predecessor has thrown up a few incredible comebacks over the years - from Real Madrid making Derby County suffer to AC Milan being stunned by Deportivo La Coruna. Goal takes a look at eight three-goals-or-more turnarounds that took place outside of group stages (so two-legged battles and final rollercoasters allowed) in elite European football ahead of this week's semi-final clashes of Bayern vs Barca and Real Madrid vs Juventus... The Champions League has had plenty of eye-catching results in its history, but Leeds United's first-round clash with Stuttgart in the tournament's inaugural season (1992-93) is one of the most topsy-turvy of them all. Stuttgart stormed into a 3-0 lead over Leeds in the first leg in Germany and looked certain to reach the second round, but the likes of Gary Speed and Eric Cantona (pictured) scored in a superb 4-1 home win. The away goals rule appeared to have eliminated Leeds but, during the second leg, the Germans had accidentally brought on a fourth foreign player at a time when only three were allowed under the tournament's rules, resulting in an automatic 3-0 defeat. Uefa consequently ordered what was effectively a play-off on neutral turf, which Stuttgart lost 2-1. Thirty-five years earlier, Schalke had been the first-ever team to qualify despite losing by three goals in the first leg of the top-tier continental competition, this time at the expense of Danish team KB. The German club lost 3-0 in the August 1958 first leg - with all the goals coming in the opening 46 minutes - and most football followers wrote off their chances. However, Schalke stormed to a 5-2 victory just under a month later, securing a third encounter as this was before the eras of away goals and penalty shootouts. KB crumbled to another defeat, this time losing 3-1 at a neutral ground in the preliminaries. http://u.goal.com/1360800/1360832_heroa.jpg Liverpool's Champions League win in 2004-05 remains one of the most iconic finals in the history of the competition due to the second-half, three-goal comeback in Istanbul that saw AC Milan go from victors-in-waiting to stunned losers. A Paolo Madini goal and two efforts from Hernan Crespo gave Carlo Ancelotti's men a clear path to glory, but Rafa Benitez must have said something truly inspired at half-time as his charges came out and scored three times in seven minutes. Ninety minutes passed, then extra-time wore down and Liverpool ultimately sealed the most unlikely of victories in a typically dramatic penalty shootout, with Andriy Shevchenko missing the decisive spot-kick. There arguably has not been as dramatic a final in the competition in the decade since. Six-times European Cup winners Real Madrid were used to being in control, so imagine their fans' surprise in 1975-76 when they found themselves thrashed by Derby County in the second round of the tournament. Two penalty kicks in the midst of a hat-trick from Charlie George contributed to a 4-1 lead for the English side at the Baseball Ground, but this advantage would be unable to spare them from the Blancos savage revenge at the Santiago Bernabeu. Despite leading just 1-0 at half-time, Roberto Juan Martinez quickly doubled his tally after the restart and Santillana grabbed a third moments later. Though George poked the Rams back ahead in the tie, Pirri levelled the tie from the penalty spot before Santillana won the match during extra-time, taking the score to 5-1. Nearly 30 years later, Real Madrid discovered what it was like to throw away a European tie of their own. An all-star line-up - including Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo - had given the Liga behemoths a 4-1 cushion with the clock ticking down at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 2003-04 quarter-final first leg versus Monaco when Fernando Morientes scored what most thought of as an inconsequential goal. However, the former Madrid favourite's late strike in the Spanish capital would ultimately prove decisive as while Raul restored Madrid's three-goal advantage in the second leg at the Stade Louis II, Ludovic Giuly's double and another crucial effort from Morientes both stunned and eliminated the 2002 Champions League winners. Comebacks don't come much more politically charged than the East Germany vs West Germany battle between Dinamo Berlin and Werder Bremen late in 1988-89's European Cup. Dinamo were the triumphant side in the first leg, running out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Andreas Thom and Thomas Doll, as well as Frank Pastor. Such a bruising defeat sparked a furious response from the West German club in the second encounter. Michael Kutzop kicked off the goal-fest midway through the first half, but it was in the latter 45 minutes that sparks really flew. Guenter Hermann and Karl-Heinz Riedle hauled Bremen back level before Manfred Burgsmuller and Thomas Schaaf completed the decimation of Dinamo. Since the European Cup became the Champions League in 1992, only one side have overturned a three-goal margin going into the second-leg of a knockout game in the latter stages of the competition: Deportivo La Coruna. They were run ragged at AC Milan after taking a surprise lead, slumping to a 4-1 loss at San Siro. With at least a 3-0 win needed to reach the last four, nobody believed the reigning European champions would exit the competition. How wrong they were: three years after memorable heroics against Paris Saint-Germain in another brilliant Deportivo comeback, Walter Pandiani kicked off a remarkable revival before Juan Carlos Valeron, Albert Luque and Fran helped pull off the seemingly impossible to see the Spanish underdogs into the semi-finals with a 4-0 walloping of the Rossoneri. Barcelona might be the club holding the high ground on Tuesday as they travel to Munich, but 29 years ago the shoe was on the other foot when they were battered 3-0 by Goteborg in the semi-finals. Barca were on the hunt for their first European Cup - fresh from knocking out Michel Platini and his Juventus team-mates in the last eight - but Torbjorn Nilsson goals either side of a Tommy Holmgren strike left them nursing their wounds and seeking a Camp Nou miracle. Pichi Alonso was the hero for the Catalans, scoring a hat-trick to send the match to penalties following another 3-0 finish. Roland Nilsson had a penalty to put Goteborg through, but his miss was symbolic of the whole tie for the Swedes who crashed out 5-4 to the hosts. Ironically, it will be Barca that Bayern will try to mimic at the Allianz Arena...