Chelsea vs Liverpool and Juventus against Manchester United: Seven classic Champions League clashes to rival Man City’s 5-3 win over Monaco
Pep Guardiola's men produced one of most entertaining matches in competition's history — but is it best-ever match?
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE knock-out ties are usually cagey affairs — with too much to lose for either team to really go for it.
But every now and again we’re served up a treat. And last night was one of those occasions.
Manchester City took the lead before twice going behind and eventually overcoming Monaco 5-3 to take a commanding victory to France.
So, was this the best Champions League knock-out tie of all-time?
We take a look back at seven other epics.
Ajax 5 Bayern Munich 2, 1995 — semi-final second leg
The first-leg had finished 0-0 in Germany, but the young Ajax side turned on the style in the return.
Louis van Gaal’s side showed shades of the Total Football from the 1970s as they reached a first final for 22 years.
Jari Litmanen opened the scoring on 36 minutes, before Marcel Witeczek pulled one back.
But Finidi George finished off a lovely team move to give the hosts the lead — and a third future Premier League ace in Nwankwo Kanu made it three in first half stoppage time.
And Litmanen made it four just after the break.
Danny Blind then handled on the line and Mehmet Scholl made no mistake from the spot, but Marc Overmars wrapped up the rout in the 88th-minute.
Dynamo Kiev 3 Bayern Munich 3, 1999 — semi-final first leg
This young Dynamo side had been making waves in recent years, having destroyed Barcelona 4-0 at the Nou Camp a year earlier.
An Andriy Shevchenko-Sergei Rebrov front two were among the best in Europe and they had knocked Arsenal out in the group stage, before eliminating holders, Real Madrid, in the last-eight.
And, despite facing a strong Bayern side, took control of this semi-final.
Shevchenko netted two in the first half, before Michael Tarnat pulled one back in stoppage time.
Vitaliy Kosovskyi then gave the hosts a commanding lead — only for Stefan Effenberg and Carsten Jancker to level things inside the final 12 minutes.
Bayern won the return 1-0 to reach a first final in 12 years.
Juventus 2 Manchester United 3, 1999 — semi-final second leg
Juventus had reached the past three finals and were basically unbeatable at home.
So when Filippo Inzaghi put them 2-0 up inside 11 minutes it looked like a foregone conclusion they would become the first side in over 40 years to reach four consecutive finals.
Roy Keane, whose booking meant he would miss the final, headed in a corner just before the break, before Dwight Yorke headed United ahead on away goals.
Inzaghi thought he’d bagged a hat-trick but was flagged for offside.
Paul Scholes then picked up a yellow card to rule himself out of the showpiece in Barcelona as Carlo Ancelotti threw everything at United.
And, with just seconds remaining, Yorke skipped through the Juve defence only to be brought down by goalkeeper, Angelo Peruzzi — but ball fell for Andy Cole who made no mistake.
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Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4, 2009 — quarter-final second leg
Liverpool had beaten the Blues home and away in the league and contributed to the eventual sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Chelsea had changed their manager by the time they met for a fifth consecutive season in the Champions League, and Guus Hiddink’s men produced a classic.
Two Bransilav Ivanovic headers looked to put the Blues in control of this quarter-final in the first-leg, but Liverpool came racing out of the blocks at Stamford Bridge.
A cheeky Fabio Aurelio free-kick and a Xabi Alonso penalty made it 2-0 to the visitors within 28 minutes.
Hiddink made first-half changes and goals from Didier Drogba and Alex just after half-time evened the score, before Frank Lampard put the hosts ahead — but two goals in a minute by Lucas Leiva and Dirk Kuyt meant Liverpool were just one more away from the semi-finals.
However, the eighth on the night came from Chelsea's No.8 a minute from time to cap off a thrilling contest.
Barcelona 2 Chelsea 2, 2012 — semi-final second leg
For the past eight seasons, this was among the most hotly-contested ties in European competition.
It now looked like Barcelona had risen to a level above — however, the Blues took a lead to the Nou Camp after defending for their lives following Drogba’s solitary goal.
Gary Cahill limped off after 12 minutes, before Sergio Busquets opened the scoring, John Terry was given a straight red card and Andres Iniesta made it two to cap off what seemed like one of the worst first halves in European competition.
But, Ramires, who had just earned a booking which would rule him out of the next match — which looked destined to be the in two years’ time with Chelsea sixth in the Premier League — put the visitors ahead with the last kick of the half.
Barca bombarded the Blues box and Lionel Messi missed a penalty as the game was played almost entirely in or around Petr Cech’s box.
And, with everyone in Chelsea’s half, Fernando Torres raced away to claim an incredible draw with just minutes remaining.
Borussia Dortmund 3 Malaga 2, 2013 — quarter-final second leg
A 0-0 draw in the first leg always sets up an intriguing return.
Malaga had become only the third team to win their first three matches on their Champions League debut, while two late goals at home against Marseille in the previous campaign had seen Dortmund lose 3-2 and finish bottom of their group.
Neither were particularly experienced and that all added to the intrigue.
Joaquin opened the scoring for the visitors before Robert Lewandowski levelled before half-time.
Eliseu looked to have sent Malaga through with a second on 82 minutes — and the score stayed that way beyond the 90th minute.
But, remarkably Marco Reus pulled one back with 91 on the clock and, two minutes later, Carlos Santana bundled over the line to send BVB through.
Borussia Dortmund 4 Real Madrid 1, 2013 — semi-final first leg
Remarkably, this was Dortmund’s very next match.
BVB hadn’t reached a Champions League final since they won the competition in 1997.
Lewandowski’s memorable evening started as early as the eighth minute when he opened the scoring.
Cristiano Ronaldo inevitably got in on the act when he got what appeared like a priceless away goal for Real Madrid.
However, it was soon drowned out by the Lewandowski show.
The Pole bundled in his second before showing incredible ball control and rifling into the top corner five minutes later.
And on 66 minutes, he netted his fourth on an incredible evening from the spot.