This past week, FC Barcelona joined the New England Patriots, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Chicago Cubs with an unbelievable comeback in their UEFA Champions League game against Paris Saint Germain. Barcelona was down 4-0 on aggregate after dropping the first leg of their Round of 16 match with PSG. They won the second leg this week 6-1, therefore winning the whole round 6-5 on aggregate. The Patriots came back from a 28-3 third quarter deficit in the Super Bowl last month and the Cavaliers and Cubs came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals and World Series respectively. After a year of amazing comebacks, which one is the most impressive?
The Cavaliers fought back from down 3-1 in the NBA Finals against the historic 73-9 Golden State Warriors, who just completed a 3-1 comeback themselves in the Western Conference Finals against Oklahoma City. However, I will rank this comeback in last place among the four we are looking at for three reasons. First, a 3-1 comeback had just happened. Two, there had been 10 comebacks from down 3-1 in NBA history prior to the NBA Finals. And finally, the Cavaliers have LeBron James, arguably the best player not named Michael Jordan in NBA history. If anyone can do it, he can.
In third place amongst the amazing comebacks is the Chicago Cubs. It ranks higher than the Cavaliers' comeback because there had only been five World Series 3-1 comebacks prior to this one and the last time it happened was 1985. Also, this was the Cubs' first World Series championship since 1908, and to come back from down 3-1 with Game 7 ending in extra innings was a highly dramatic way to win their first title in over 100 years.
Up next we have the New England Patriots. What a comeback. People definitely left the stadium and stopped watching on TV. Down 28-3 late in the third quarter to come back to win in overtime in the Super Bowl is ridiculous. Even though a legitimate argument can be made that the Falcons blew it more than the Patriots won it, it was still incredible. It ranks ahead of the Cubs and Cavaliers because being down 28-3 is a much more difficult hole to climb out of than down 3-1. Also, it was the first time the Super Bowl has ever gone into overtime. Scoring 31 unanswered points to win 34-28 is only one-upped by Barcelona.
Barcelona has the most impressive comeback. Down 4-0 in soccer is pretty much insurmountable. They needed to win the second leg by 5 goals to advance, which was highly unlikely. They won 6-1 including three goals after the 87th minute. That is like the Patriots coming back from down 28-3 with 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Barcelona accomplished near impossible while the other teams accomplished difficult, unlikely tasks. That's why they are the number one comeback of the last year.
Now, let's have a moment of silence for the victimized. That's you PSG, Atlanta Falcons, Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Indians.
