Real Madrid have always boasted some of the best players in the world, but it’s their never-say-die spirit which so often proves decisive in European Competitions, as can be seen in recent times.

There’s an air of entitlement about Los Blancos that rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. But there’s simply no denying the efficacy of that sense of superiority.

Players come and go at Santiago Bernabeu, but one thing remains the same – the belief that the European Cup belongs to Madrid and that no matter the circumstances, they always seem to find a way to not only win but also lift titles. Real Madrid repeatedly proves themselves to be the best team in the Champions League often because they simply believe themselves to be.

Time and time again, Madrid have ended up staring defeat in the face and, time and time again, they’ve somehow managed to emerge victorious by leaning on a never-say-die spirit that borders on arrogance yet demands respect.

Let’s take a look at the most remarkable fightbacks we’ve seen from the undisputed kings of European Football in recent times.

10. Real Madrid 1-3 Juventus (2018)

In this instance, it looked like Juventus were going to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history. The Bianconeri had lost 3-0 at home in the first leg of their quarter-final clash with Madrid, but came storming back at the Bernabeu, levelling the tie on aggregate thanks to a first-half double from Mario Mandzukic and Blaise Matuidi’s second-half strike.

Real were reeling, and Zinedine Zidane’s men looked exhausted with extra-time beckoning. All of the momentum appeared to be with Juve. However, in the seventh minute of injury time, referee Michael Oliver awarded Madrid a penalty for Medhi Benatia’s clumsy challenge on Lucas Vazquez. Juve were furious, particularly Gigi Buffon, with the goalkeeper sent off for insulting Oliver, whom he also later accused of “having a dustbin where his heart should be”.

Madrid obviously didn’t care about the controversy (they never do!). Cristiano Ronaldo converted the spot-kick and Real went on to win the second of three consecutive Champions League titles.

9. Real Madrid 4-2 Bayern Munich (2017)

Madrid looked to have taken care of the hard part of their quarter-final tie with Bayern Munich by coming from behind to beat the Bavarians 2-1 at in the first leg at the Allianz Arena. However, they found themselves in all sorts of trouble at the Bernabeu and needed a big helping hand from the officials to get them out of it.

Although Ronaldo had cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s opener from the penalty spot, Bayern went back in front – and levelled the tie on aggregate – thanks to an own goal from Sergio Ramos. With six minutes of normal time remaining, though, the visitors’ Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal was ludicrously given a second yellow card by referee Viktor Kassai for the cleanest of challenges on Marco Asensio.

Even after being reduced to 10 men, it appeared as if a brave Bayern side might force penalties – but, in the 115th minute, the officials made another massive mistake by failing to spot that Ronaldo was in an offside position when he put Madrid back in front on aggregate.

With Bavarians’ resistance finally broken, Madrid added two further goals, with Ronaldo completing his hat-trick and Asensio sealing a 4-2 win on the night. Unsurprisingly, Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti was enraged by the fact that the game had effectively been decided by two incorrect calls.

“In a quarter-final you have to put a better referee,” the Italian said, “or it is the moment to introduce video refereeing, which is what UEFA are trying, because there are too many errors.”

8. Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid (2023)

After two heart-breaking final losses in the previous five years, Liverpool were desperately hoping to exact a modicum of revenge on Real Madrid going into their last-16 showdown in 2023 – and things looked good for the Reds early on in the first leg.

Jurgen Klopp’s men tore into Los Blancos from the very first whistle, and Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock just four minutes in with a brilliant back-heel finish before Mohamed Salah took advantage of an error from Thibaut Courtois to make it 2-0 to the hosts inside the opening quarter.

Most teams would have buckled in such a scenario at Anfield – but Madrid are not most teams and they were level by the break thanks to Vinicius Jr, who was electrifying on the night. Eder Militao then edged Real in front shortly after half-time before Karim Benzema netted twice to pile even more misery on Liverpool, and make the second leg a formality thanks to a stunning display of firepower.

“After those first 15 minutes we saw the true Real Madrid,” French forward Benzema said afterwards. “Football at this level is hard and they started better than us – but this was a big game and we were ready.”

7. Manchester City 2-3 Real Madrid (2025)

It says everything about Real’s renowned resilience that at no point during the first leg of their last-16 clash with the once-mighty Manchester City did it look like they’d lose – not even when they found themselves 2-1 down with 10 minutes to play after Erling Haaland had slotted home a penalty.

Madrid had played with real menace all evening and didn’t really deserve to be behind, while City never appeared entirely sure of themselves. In that sense, the late drama was inevitable.

The hosts unquestionably made unforgivable errors, with Ederson particularly culpable, but they still had to be exploited, and Madrid did that ruthlessly. Ancelotti also played a pivotal role once again, with Brahim Diaz equalising less than two minutes after coming on for Rodrygo.

A draw would have been a decent result for Real, but they weren’t done yet, with Jude Bellingham tapping home after Vinicius Jr had taken advantage of more sloppy play from City. The home fans had unveiled a banner before the game mocking the Brazilian over his Ballon d’Or tantrum, but he was the one smiling at the full-time whistle.

“When opposition fans do things it always gives me more strength to play a great game and here I did that,” the winger said. “City know our history and everything we’ve done in this competition.”

6. Real Madrid 3-0 Wolfsburg (2016)

Madrid won a second Champions League title in three years in 2016 – but what’s often forgotten is that they were very nearly eliminated by Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals. The German outfit had stunned Los Blancos in the first leg, triumphing 2-0 at the Volkswagen Arena thanks to goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold.

However, there was no containing Cristiano Ronaldo in the return. The Portuguese had drawn Madrid level by the 17th minute of the second leg with two goals in less than 90 seconds. Almost inevitably, ‘Mr. Champions League’ then completed his hat-trick – and the comeback – by netting a rare free-kick goal with 13 minutes remaining.

“Here, it’s mythical,” Ronaldo told UEFA afterwards. “At the Santiago Bernabeu, comebacks are always on everyone’s lips. Madrid have produced many great comebacks in their history – and we’ve managed another one tonight. It was a perfect evening.”

5. Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (2024)

It looked like ‘Advantage Madrid’ after Vinicius Jr’s 83rd-minute penalty had earned his side a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their semi-final with Bayern. However, the Bavarians were brilliant in the second leg at the Bernabeu and took a deserved lead with just over 22 minutes to go through Alphonso Davies.

Madrid appeared to have run out of ideas as the end of the game approached. However, whereas Thomas Tuchel took off Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala in the closing stages, Carlo Ancelotti sent on Joselu – and that proved decisive.

In the 88th minute, super-sub Joselu levelled the game – and the tie – after pouncing on a dreadful error from Manuel Neuer, who had been excellent up until that point. Then, just moments later, the veteran striker struck again, this time converting a pass from Antonio Rudiger to put Madrid ahead in injury time.

The drama didn’t end there, though, as Bayern thought they’d equalised in the dying seconds through Matthijs de Ligt, but the assistant referee’s flag had already been incorrectly raised for Noussair Mazraoui being in an ‘offside’ position. “That was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee,” Tuchel told TNT Sports. “It feels like a betrayal in the end.”

Ancelotti, meanwhile, was full of praise for Joselu, “the perfect reflection of the best squad I’ve ever had”.

4. Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea (2022)

By scoring his second consecutive Champions League hat-trick in a 3-1 first-leg win at Stamford Bridge, Karim Benzema seemed to have killed off any hope Chelsea had of reaching the last four in 2022. However, the Blues were magnificent in the return clash at Santiago Bernabeu, stunning the home fans by going 3-0 up on the night, and 4-3 ahead on aggregate, through goals from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner. Indeed, when the latter found the back of the net from an acute angle, we were looking at one of the greatest recoveries in European Cup history.

However, Luka Modric wasn’t going to allow Madrid to be embarrassed in their own backyard and, in the 80th minute, he teed up substitute Rodrygo with the most outrageous, outside-of-the-boot cross. There was only going to be one winner after that moment of magic, and Benzema sent Real through to the semis with an extra-time header that made it 5-4 overall.

“We were dead until the goal we scored,” Modric told BT Sport afterwards. “But we didn’t give up, we kept believing, fighting and, in the end, showed huge character. This stadium and the fans were very helpful when we were losing 3-0 and the manager made great changes. In this competition, experience is playing an important role and I think today it helped us a bit. It’s a defeat that is very sweet.”

3. Real Madrid 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain (2022)

Paris Saint-Germain signed Lionel Messi to play alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for one reason and one reason alone: to win the Champions League. The Qatari-owned club may have gone on to realise that long-held dream had it not been for an unfortunately timed goalkeeping error from Gigi Donnarumma.

Already 1-0 up from the first leg at Parc des Princes, PSG took complete control of the tie when Mbappe struck again just before the break at the Bernabeu. However, the Parisians went to pieces – as they so often do – as soon as Donnarumma gifted Madrid a goal just after the hour mark by taking too long over a clearance, thus allowing Karim Benzema to deflect the ball into the path of Vinicius Jr, who then immediately crossed for the Frenchman to tap home from close range.

Benzema struck again after typically incisive play from Luka Modric and then secured victory by completing a 17-minute hat-trick with a lovely low finish.

“We suffered a lot,” Ancelotti admitted in his post-match press conference, “but the equaliser arrived due to the pressing we did in attack, which we had worked on in training, and that changed the game. We just needed that first goal and what followed was a spectacular evening.”

2. Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid (2014)

92:48 – Sergio Ramos has the numbers tattooed on his arm. And why not? The former Madrid captain scored many goals for the club, but none more significant than his injury-time equaliser in the 2014 Champions League final.

The Blancos had not won the competition for 12 years at the time. ‘La Decima’ had become an obsession – and their latest bid seemed set to end up in the worst possible fashion, with a final defeat to their city rivals Atletico. However, Ramos’ last-gasp header changed everything. Atletico had been hanging on in the closing stages of normal time, so it came as no surprise to see them completely run out of steam in extra-time.

Madrid took full advantage, with Gareth Bale putting them ahead before Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo rubbed further salt in Atleti’s wounds.

“All our team are heroes,” Ramos enthused. “With the way the group works, you pick up titles. So, the goal is not only mine, it is for all Madrid’s people, those who came here or those that stayed at home. We were waiting for this for a long time. Today we can finally enjoy it.”

1. Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester City (2022)

Already trailing 4-3 from the first leg of their semi-final against Manchester City at the Etihad, Madrid fell further behind when Riyad Mahrez slotted home in the 73rd minute of the return clash at the Bernabeu. Carlo Ancelotti’s men had come from behind to beat both PSG and Chelsea in the previous two rounds, but this looked like Mission: Impossible. Pep Guardiola’s City were just too good, and too composed.

However, Madrid are simply never beaten, as they once again proved thanks to Rodrygo, who, in the 90th minute, scored with the home side’s first shot on target all evening. The atmosphere changed immediately; City suddenly looked rattled, seemingly aware of what was coming next.

Just 90 seconds after his first goal, Rodrygo netted again, this time with a fantastic header to send the crowd wild – and the game into extra-time. Unsurprisingly, a visibly stunned City never recovered and Karim Benzema scored from the spot to secure a ridiculously dramatic victory for Madrid.

“I cannot say we are used to living this kind of life,” Ancelotti confessed to BT Sport, “but what happened tonight also happened against Chelsea and also against PSG. If you have to say why, it is the history of this club that helps us to keep going when it seems that we are gone.”