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English Premier League giants Manchester United recently produced one of the most memorable comebacks in the history of men's professional football. After a dramatic finish, they beat Lyon 5-4 in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League quarter-final.
United were trailing by 4-2 in the second half of extra time and scored three goals in seven minutes to win 5-4 on the night and 7-6 on aggregate, which put them through to the semi-finals against Athletic Club (more commonly known as Athletic Bilbao).
With that said, let's dive straight in and take a look at some of the most historic comebacks in football and how they dramatically shifted the betting markets.
Biggest comebacks in European football
We can start by taking a quick look at a few memorable comebacks in European competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League or Europa League, and then we can take a look at some of the English Premier League's most iconic comebacks.
In May 2019, Liverpool were trailing 3-0 to Barcelona in the Champions League after the first leg in the semi-final. They ended up winning the second leg 4-0, which nobody thought was possible.
In May 2019, Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur) were three goals down on aggregate against Ajax in the Champions League semi-final. They ended up scoring three goals and won the match because of the away goal rule.
In March 2010, Fulham lost their first leg match to Juventus 3-1, but ended up winning the second leg 4-1, and won 5-4 on aggregate. In 2017, PSG beat Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg, but Barcelona turned things around in the second leg and won 6-1 (6-5 agg.)
How do major comebacks impact the odds?
Major comebacks significantly impact the odds, especially in-play betting (aka live betting) odds, which are adjusted in real-time to represent what's actually happening in the match.
You can find plenty of sites with in-play betting services these days, so if you are currently looking for a safe online bookmaker and prefer using PayPal for deposits and withdrawals, don't forget to check out the review of paypal friendly options on the official Betting.co.uk iGaming review site.
Today's most trusted online bookmakers who set the odds on these sites use huge amounts of data and statistics to give the best possible prices, and they often cannot imagine that the opposition will stage epic comebacks like this, so sports bettors can find some great odds for outcomes like this that weren't expected to occur.
For example, when Manchester United were losing 4-2 to Lyon, the odds for Manchester United to score three goals and win the game 5-4 before the full-time whistle blew less than ten minutes later were huge, as most people thought it was an impossible outcome.
If you had bet on Manchester United to win 5-4 when they were 4-2, you would have seen a huge return on that wager.
What are the most memorable Premier League comebacks?
Some of the most iconic Premier League comebacks in history were the following fixtures, which you can watch clips of on YouTube. The top four epic comebacks included the following:
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When Newcastle United drew 4-4 with Arsenal (2011/11 season)
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When Manchester City beat QPR 3-2 (2011/12)
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When West Brom drew 5-5 with Manchester United (2012/13)
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When Crystal Palace drew 3-3 with Liverpool (2013/14)
Others include when Bournemouth beat Everton 3-2 in 2024/25, when Manchester United beat Spurs 5-2 in 2009/09, when Liverpool beat Norwich City 5-4 in 2015/16, and when Arsenal beat Spurs 5-2 in 2011/12.
Final thoughts
If you decide to bet on a football match on a fully licensed and regulated online sportsbook, the best thing to do to give your wager the best chance of winning is to bet sensibly and try not to place too many bets with low implied probability rates and high odds.
Although these results prove that sometimes the results can completely upset the odds, major comebacks like this don't occur too often, and it's usually (not always) the team that is winning near the end of the match [or the team that's expected to win] that wins. |
