Did You Know Bayern & Inter? - Only One Team Has Lost First Leg At Home & Won A Champions League Knock-Out Tie

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Tonight, Inter will strive to construct history. Leonardo’s men will attempt to do what only one side in the history of the Champions League has done – overturn a first leg deficit in the knock-out stage.

Last month the defending Italian and European champions lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Milan. A late Mario Gomez goal saw the Nerazzurri fall behind in their round of 16 tie with the Bavarians, and now the Beneamata have been shouldered with the daunting task of winning at the Allianz Arena to keep the dream of a second successive European triumph alive.

History, though, is against the Italian giants. Since Europe’s premier club competition became the Champions League in 1992, only once has a team who lost at home in the first leg of a knock-out round overcome the deficit in the second – and it happened way back in 1995-96.

First Leg Shocker

It was the occasion of the semi-final between Ajax and Panathinaikos. The Dutch side had defeated Borussia Dortmund both home and away in the quarter-finals while the Grecian powerhouse had got the better of Legia Warsaw in the last eight.

Ajax were the favourites going into the tie but on April 3, 1996 they suffered a shock defeat in the first leg in Amsterdam.

Krzysztof Warzycha’s goal three minutes from the full-time whistle saw the Shamrocks gain a sensational advantage and one would have been pardoned for believing that it was all over for the then-three time winners

Second Leg Comeback

Football often tends to drift away from the script, and two weeks later a footballing Greek tragedy saw the light of the day. In front of 74,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Ajax staged a historic comeback.

Finnish legend Jari Litmanen leveled the Dutch giants in the tie just four minutes into the second leg and then put his side ahead on 77 minutes.

At 2-1 up Ajax were marching on to the final, and Nordin Wooter wrapped up the win with four minutes left on the clock. Ajax were through into the final, 3-1 on aggregate.

Tonight Inter will attempt to emulate Ajax and turn their first leg loss on its head. But will they get it? Tonight will give us the answer.