For all intents and purposes, this tie should be over. And barring an absolute miracle of miracles, it is over. We’re talking a miracle bigger than anything we can think of. Bigger than #DareToDemba in 2014. Bigger than Vicenza, Bruges, or Barca ‘05. Bigger than anything that happened in 2012, be that Napoli, Barcelona, or Bayern. A proper St. Patrick’s Day miracle.
But a three-goal comeback isn’t quite unprecedented. It would be unprecedented in Chelsea history, but it has happened four times in Champions League history — five if you also count Spurs’ comeback against Ajax in the 2019 semifinals (Spurs were down by just one after the first leg, but then fell behind 2-0 away in the second before storming back to advance).
The other semifinal that season saw Liverpool advance, 4-3 on aggregate, despite losing the first leg against Barcelona, 3-0, while the season prior, in 2017-18, Barcelona were again stunned, this time in the quarterfinals, being eliminated on away goals (a thing at the time) by AS Roma despite winning the first leg, 4-1. Even those dramatics paled in comparison with what happened in 2016-17 however, when Barcelona were the ones doing the shocking, overturning a 4-0 first leg Round of 16 deficit by winning 6-1 at the Camp Nou in the second. Their opponents? None other than PSG.
It’s unclear what was in the Champions League water during that three-year period that we saw four such comebacks, but it’s not happened since. In fact, it had only happened one other time, way back in 2003-04. Deportivo La Coruña were a relevant side in those days still, and they came back from a 4-1 first-leg defeat against defending champions AC Milan by winning 4-0 at home in the quarterfinals. Depor would go on to face José Mourinho’s FC Porto in the semifinals, and the rest, as they say, is history.
That same year, Chelsea faced AS Monaco in the other semifinal, and the vibes of last week’s PSG defeat reminded me a great deal of the vibes from that first leg defeat for the Blues. The exact circumstances were different, but just the same, we snatched disastrous defeat from the jaws of what should’ve been at the very least an advantageous draw. Chelsea still nearly came back to win and advance in the second leg.
Can we at least make a credible attempt at a comeback this time, too?
Date / Time: Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 20.00 GMT; 4pm EDT; 1:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (on pitch); Christian Dingert (VAR)
Forecast: Not too cold, light winds
On TV: TNT Sports 2 (UK); TUDN, UniMás (USA); Sony TEN 1 (India); SuperSport Premier League (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Paramount+, Univision Now (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea’s English head coach Liam Rosenior, Chelsea’s French-born Malian assistant coach Kalifa Cisse (C) and Chelsea’s English assistant coach Calum McFarlane look on during a team training session at the Chelsea training ground in Cobham, west of London on March 16, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, Last 16 second leg football match against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). (Photo by Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea’s English head coach Liam Rosenior, Chelsea’s French-born Malian assistant coach Kalifa Cisse (C) and Chelsea’s English assistant coach Calum McFarlane look on during a team training session at the Chelsea training ground in Cobham, west of London on March 16, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, Last 16 second leg football match against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). (Photo by Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Chelsea team news: By losing to Newcastle over the weekend, Chelsea have lost two on the bounce in all competitions for just the second time all season. To avoid a third, we’re going to have to raise our levels from Saturday’s efforts: shouldn’t be too hard given how low the bar got set.
Unfortunately, adding the literal injury to the insult of that 1-0 defeat against Newcastle was that Reece James managed to strain his hamstring anew. An exact timeframe has not been put on his rehab, but he will definitely miss this game … and probably a fair few more coming up. Combined with the illness that took Malo Gusto out of training this week, we could be rather short on right backs.
On the plus side, Estêvão has returned to training and Pedro Neto avoided any suspension following his altercation with the ball boy last week. Jamie Gittens, Filip Jörgensen, and Levi Colwill remain out, while Dário Essugo is not registered.
Paris Saint-Germain’s players take part in a team training session at Stamford Bridge, west London on March 16, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, Last 16 second leg football match against Chelsea. (Photo by Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)
Paris Saint-Germain’s players take part in a team training session at Stamford Bridge, west London on March 16, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, Last 16 second leg football match against Chelsea. (Photo by Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
PSG team news: PSG got the weekend off to fully focus on finishing us off, which should make them fitter and hungrier to do so this week. Thanks a lot, Premier League!
Fittingly, their injury situation has only gotten better as well: practically clean of all relevant names.
Despite the massive first-leg advantage, PSG will be trying to keep their focus and effort levels high.
“Luis Enrique used the word resilience, which characterizes our team. You have to know how to suffer in this competition. Any team that has won it has suffered [like] we did against Aston Villa. [We] can’t keep just sit in the last 15-20 meters and defend a lead. Our mentality is always to win a match.”
-Ousmane Dembéle; source: ESPN
Previously: We’re now into double-digits for number of meetings between the two sides, with PSG now on four wins and Chelsea on three.