RECORD COMEBACKS
Picture : Miska Ylitova and HJK on fire !
HJK’s record comeback in Conference League qualifier
An astonishing comeback happened in the Conference League’s first qualifying round on 17 July.
The Faroese NSI Runavík, considered underdogs in the tie with HJK Helsinki, suddenly thrashed the opposition 4-0 in the first leag at home.
In the replying game, HJK achieved a 5-0 win after extra time, sealing an amazing aggregate victory 5-4.
HJK lead only 3-0 until the 4th minute of compensated time, when they managed to make it 4-0 and send the match into extra time and get there the dramatical winner.
According the official stats, HJK fired off unbelieveable 60 shots, including 48 after 90 minutes and another 12 in extra time.
With their epic turnaround, HJK became the joint record holders of the European club competitions. Comebacks from 4-goal deficits in two-leg ties are pretty rare. Before this, only 5 teams had done it.
Portuguese Leixões were the first to make this feat, in the 1961-62 season vs the Swiss opposition La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Partizan Belgrade, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Zenit followed them, and now HJK Helsinki joined this “club” as its 6th member.
Details are in the table.
| EUROPEAN CLUB | COMPETITIONS | 1955- | |||||
| BIGGEST | COMEBACKS | IN | TWO | LEG | TIES | ||
| Loser | Winner | Comp. | Date | Round | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | |
| 1 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | Leixoes | CW | 04/10/1961 | R32 | 6-2 | 0-5 |
| 2 | Queens Park Rangers | Partizan Belgrade | UC | 07/11/1984 | R32 | 6-2 | 0-4 |
| 3 | Borussia M’gladbach | Real Madrid | EL | 11/12/1985 | R16 | 5-1 | 0-4 |
| 4 | Paris St. Germain | Barcelona | CL | 08/03/2017 | R16 | 4-0 | 1-6 |
| 5 | Dinamo Minsk | Zenit | EL | 16/08/2018 | 3QR | 4-0 | 1-8 |
| 6 | NSI Runavík | HJK Helsinki | CO | 17/07/2025 | 1QR | 4-0 | 0-5 |
CL = Champions League,
CW = Cup Winners’ Cup,
EL = Europa League (including UEFA Cup era),
CO = Conference League