By Tom Mison

The battle for the 2016 F1 Drivers Championships is going right down to the wire. The battle between teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton has the whole sport gripped. At one point it looked as though Rosberg couldn’t lose the title, but with one race left, Hamilton has clawed Rosberg back within his sights. If Hamilton wins the final race in Abu Dhabi and Rosberg fails to get a podium finish then Hamilton will claim the title and complete one of the greatest comebacks in the sporting history. With this possible comeback on the horizon, here is an article looking at other great sporting comebacks.

Champions League Final 2005

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Perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of football came in the 2005 Champions League Final. Liverpool faced AC Milan in the final held in Istanbul. AC Milan were favourites and they proved this by taking the lead within one minute. Their dominance continued and they went into half-time with a 3-0 lead. With seemingly nothing left to play for in the second half, the Reds came out needing a response; and boy did they deliver. Within 15 minutes of the half restarting Liverpool had scored 3 goals to make the score line 3-3. The next 30 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra time saw an onslaught from the Italians but to no avail. Liverpool survived and the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko had to score his penalty to keep the game alive. Instead his penalty was saved by Jerzy Dudek and the European trophy was heading to Anfield for a fifth time. Hailed ‘The Miracle of Istanbul’ a film was eventually made about the game and it will be forever remembered by football fans around the world.

Ryder Cup 2012

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The Ryder Cup in 2012 was the 39th held. This particular battle between the USA and Europe’s top 12 golfers took place in Chicago at Medinah. Going into the singles matches on the final day, the U.S team led 10-6, requiring only 4½ points to win the trophy. Europe needed 8½ so had to win 8 of the 12 matches. Europe went on to win 8 matches and tie another, meaning they regained the cup. The win was dedicated to the late legendary European golfer Seve Ballesteros and deemed ‘The Miracle in Medinah.’

Rugby World Cup Semi Final 1999

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This battle took place between New Zealand and France at the world famous Twickenham stadium. The All Blacks were deemed to be unstoppable and they were expected to cruise past France and meet southern hemisphere rivals Australia in the final. Leading 24-10 in the second half, New Zealand looked to be heading to the final in the easy fashion everyone had predicted. However, the French didn’t give up. Inspired by Christophe Lamaison; who himself scored 28 points; France fought back and won the match 43-31. Although they went on to lose the Cardiff final to Australia, this comeback, largely inspired by one man, was considered one of the best comebacks the sport has ever seen.

NHL Eastern Conference Play-Offs Semi-Final 2010

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The semi-final of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League in America took place between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins got off to a great start, claiming the first 3 games meaning they took a 3-0 lead, in the best-of-seven series. The Flyers were staring defeat in the face before entering one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history. The Flyers won the next three matches equaling the series at 3-3 and set up a ‘winner takes all’ situation in the final encounter. It was in the final match where the Flyers set up ‘a comeback within a comeback’. The

Flyers went 3-0 down in the first period and it looked as if the Bruins couldn’t lose. However, history repeated itself just as it had in the series and the Flyers scored 4 goals to go through to the final.