Barcelona's win over PSG in 2017 remains arguably the GREATEST ever Champions League comeback with Messi, Suarez and Neymar in full flow... now the Spanish giants are in disarray and Koeman must summon that spirit to avoid more Euro heartache
- Barcelona beat Paris Saint-Germain in one of the most dramatic comebacks ever
- Their 6-1 win after a 4-0 first-leg loss helped them win 6-5 on aggregate in 2017
- Roma and Liverpool have inflicted similarly big comebacks on the club recently
- The Spanish giants need to remind themselves of that incredible evening now
- Ronald Koeman's side face the French giants again in the last-16 on Tuesday
No team in Champions League history had ever turned around a 4-0 first leg defeat.
But then no team in Champions League history had ever had a forward line quite like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
The Brazilian was the star, and aided by his Argentine and Uruguayan pals plus local boy Sergi Roberto who got the winner, Barcelona conspired to pull off the greatest comeback ever in the competition.
'This is a crazy sport,' said then Barça coach Luis Enrique – his version of Sir Alex Ferguson's 'football, bloody hell'.
Barcelona's Sergi Roberto scored the crucial stoppage time goal to seal a 6-1 win against PSG
PSG won the first leg 4-0 but Roberto's sucker punch gave Barcelona the aggregate victory
There was Barcelona jubilation on the final whistle at pulling off such a remarkable comeback
In the 88th minute of the game Barcelona were going out. No one had expected anything less, after the disastrous first leg 4-0 at the Parc des Princes.
Suarez had given them hope with a goal after just three minutes and courtesy of a Layvin Kurzawa own-goal and a Messi penalty it was 3-0 on the night. But when Edinson Cavani scored on 62 minutes the dream was surely dead?
Not so. Not with Neymar on the pitch, against the club that would sign him a few months later for €222million (£198m). He curled a brilliant free-kick past Kevin Trapp to make it 4-1 on 88 minutes and now Barcelona only needed two goals.
Never mind there were only two minutes of normal time left, the Camp Nou's cry of 'Yes we can' which had been silenced by Cavani's goal was back and the volume was turned up even more when Suarez won a penalty and Neymar buried it.
Neymar set up the crucial sixth goal, floating the ball into the area one last time and picking out Sergio Roberto who had ghosted behind the PSG defence to score. There were 95 minutes on the clock.
Unai Emery grimaced, Barcelona supporters cried in the stands, the home bench invaded the pitch and there was only time for PSG to take the restart and then hear the final whistle.
Then-Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery was stunned by his side's collapse late on
The French giants showed disbelief after throwing away their colossal four-goal advantage
Barcelona forward Neymar sportingly consoled his Brazilian compatriot Thiago Silva (right)
'We knew we need six because we thought they would score,' said Luis Enrique after the game. 'It was like a horror film at times.'
That was a more apt description of the game from Emery's perspective; he was never quite forgiven for overseeing the capitulation.
The enduring image from one of the Camp Nou's most extraordinary nights was of Messi celebrated in a sea of ecstatic Barcelona supporters. It was the picture that appeared on all the front pages the following morning, more because it was an incredible image than because anyone believed this was a miracle made in Messi.
Neymar had done more than anyone to make the impossible possible, for once Messi had been no more than best supporting actor. The use of the Messi picture was a sore point raised a few months later when Neymar left Barcelona and joined PSG.
The story was he, or more likely his entourage, had despaired he had not made the front page after such an incredible display. Barcelona floated through the next few days after the victory.
Supporters exchanged stories about having turned off the television at home when Cavani's goal went in, only to turn it on again because they heard screams of joy from neighbours who had kept the faith and were still watching.
Neymar left Catalonia for the French capital a few months later for a whopping £198million
Of course as well as showcasing the genius of Neymar and showing Barcelona had a heart almost as big as that front three's attacking talent, the two legs had also brought into focus a fragility in the big games.
Maybe Cavani's goal, and the fact that he hit the post and Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to save from him and Angel Di Maria, could be put down to Barcelona having committed so many forward.
But the four conceded in the first leg were a sign of things to come.
Juventus beat Barcelona 3-0 in the next round that year, knocking them out. And Roma and Liverpool would serve up embarrassing defeats in subsequent seasons.
Last year Bayern Munich put eight past Barça and the club are now deep in debt, still without a president, potentially losing Messi for nothing in the summer, and not expected to win this season's competition.
But the memories are still fresh enough from that amazing evening. As many as four players who played in the game could even start on Tuesday night.
Maybe Ronald Koeman should play the highlights of the match to his players in the build-up to the rematch.
Most watched Sport videos
- IShowSpeed is challenged to a race by Polish Olympic sprinting star
- Arteta happy with the chemistry building in his team
- Noah Lyles' Olympic rival speaks out after the 200m final
- Awkward moment Anthony Ammirati gets his crotch stuck on crossbar
- Team USA serenade A'ja Wilson as WNBA star celebrates 28th birthday
- Adorable footage of a tiny Simone Biles at junior competition
- Letslie Tebogo delivers savage remark after winning gold
- Rebeca Andrade reacts to Simone Biles' bow to her after winning gold
- Olympian boxer makes 'controversial' gesture
- OnlyFans Olympian Alisha Newman shows off pole vault outfit choices
- Paris 2024 Olympics: Day 12 highlights
- Katarina Johnson-Thompson shares a glimpse of her training