Champions League History Shows Just How Unlikely Juventus Comeback Against Atletico Really Was

After Atletico Madrid's comfortable 2-0 victory over Juventus at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg of their Champions League tie, questions were asked of

After Atletico Madrid's comfortable 2-0 victory over Juventus at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg of their Champions League tie, questions were asked of Cristiano Ronaldo, Massimiliano Allegri and the entire Juventus setup. 

On Tuesday night, they answered those questions. A Ronaldo hat-trick sealed a dramatic 3-0 victory and ensured Atletico were eliminated from the tournament, despite their two-goal advantage heading into the second tie.

FT: COMEBACK COMPLETE ✅#GETREADY FOR THE QUARTER-FINALS!!! 💪💪💪#JuveAtleti #UCL #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/6orwwkFEE0

— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) March 12, 2019

The size of Juventus' triumph is backed up by stats from Opta, who state that Atletico are just the fourth team in Champions League history to win the first leg of a knockout game at home by a 2-0 scoreline but fail to progress to the next round.

The first team to do so was AC Milan, who gave up their 2-0 advantage when they fell to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in the 2012/13 season. 

Since then, Olympiacos' two-goal lead was undone in 2014 when they lost 3-0 to Manchester United, and Wolfsburg met a similar fate when they were knocked out in the 2015/16 campaign following a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/GettyImages

Juventus fans will be quick to thank Ronaldo for his efforts as it was the Portuguese forward who inspired the Serie A giants to victory. Two headers either side of half time brought the tie level on aggregate, before Ronaldo sealed Juventus' qualification into the next round with a late penalty.

The current Champions League season has seen plenty of dramatic comebacks. Both Ajax and Manchester United overcame home defeats to beat Real and Paris Saint-Germain respectively, whilst Porto bounced back from defeat to Roma with an exciting 3-1 victory in the second leg.

Our team started to prepare for Saturday's #AthleticAtleti 🔴⚪
➕📸➡ https://t.co/SHP006Axha#AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/RtE1kZZp3a

— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) March 13, 2019

As for Atletico, they must now look to La Liga as their only remaining chance of silverware this season. Los Rojiblancos currently sit second in the league table but, with a seven-point gap between themselves and leaders Barcelona, they certainly have their work cut out for them if they are to win a trophy this year.