5 of the Most Memorable UEL Matches During the 2021/22 Season

Both legs between Borussia Dortmund and Rangers were all-time classics, but the first leg will go down in the history of Rangers as one of their most impressive European away performances in what can be such an intimidating environment.

It was quite an even game heading into the latter stages of the first half, but two goals in three minutes by James Tavernier and Alfredo Morelos gave Rangers a shock lead going into the break.

The start of the second half was just as electric as the end to the first half, with John Lundstram extending Rangers’ lead for a couple of minutes with a great left-footed effort before Jude Bellingham’s equally great left-footed strike pegged one back for the home side.

This scoreline only lasted three minutes before an own goal from Dan-Axel Zagadou put his side in deep trouble as he put Rangers up 4-1 in the Signal Iduna Park with the Rangers supporters making all the noise.

Dortmund were able to grab a late goal through Raphael Guerreiro to make this game a six-goal thriller, but despite it being a close contest overall, Rangers’ flurry of four goals in the span of twelve minutes away to a European giant not just shocked the stadium but football fans around the world.

Although the first leg in Frankfurt was a pretty even 1-1 draw, it was expected that Barcelona would brush aside the German side in the second leg in their own stadium, but Frankfurt shocked everyone by putting in a great show at the Nou Camp.

The game couldn’t have started better for The Eagles as they were awarded a penalty just a few minutes into the game which Filip Kostic dispatched into the bottom corner, and after periods of defending, Raphael Borre scored one of the goals of the tournament with a strike drilled into the top corner from 30 yards out.

Frankfurt had to do some last-ditch and desperate defending to keep their lead, but they took their chances on the counter-attack again, with Filip Kostic grabbing his second of the game with a shot across the keeper to stun the Nou Camp into silence.

With ten minutes of added time, there was still a chance for Barcelona to get back into the game, and Frankfurt were given a scare as Barcelona managed to score twice in added time, but it was too little too late by the Spanish giants as they were knocked out of the tournament in dramatic fashion.

With both teams getting off to a good start in the group stage, a good result would set up either side for a good chance of qualification, and Sparta Praha couldn’t have asked for a better opening twenty minutes as they took a commanding 2-0 lead.

The seven-time French champions didn’t let the scoreline get them down, as a goal just before half-time from Karl Toko-Ekambi kick-started a great away comeback, as Lyon took the lead of the game with just over twenty minutes left in the game, but their comeback looked to be in vain as teenager Malo Gusto was sent off just a few minutes later.

Despite being a man down, Lyon extended their lead with Toko-Ekambi grabbing his second goal of the game, this was before Sparta Praha grabbed a late consolation with a few seconds left in the game, which left them on the wrong side of a seven-goal European thriller.

With a spot in the knockout stage at stake, Celtic needed a win to keep themselves mathematically able to progress and they had to do it in such an intimidating atmosphere which is the BayArena, and early on they found themselves a goal down with Robert Andrich’s header giving the home side the lead.

With plenty of the game left, Celtic had a lot of fight left in them still, and just before half time, they struck back with Josip Juranovic converting a penalty, levelling up the game.

After a few scary moments in defence that stopped the hearts of Celtic fans, they got the score that they came for ten minutes into the second half, as a swift end-to-end counter-attack, finished off by Jota put Celtic in a great position to advance to the knockout stages.

With some great saves from Joe Hart, Celtic still had their much-needed lead with just under ten minutes left in the game, but Leverkusen’s pressure paid off as Andrich struck for the second time of the game to level up the score.

To put the dagger even further into the Celtic fans' hearts, Leverkusen guaranteed their non-participation in the Round of 32 knockout stages as Moussa Diaby’s volley gave the home side the win to guarantee themselves top of the group.

In the final game of the group stage, a win for either side would send them into the knockout stages of the tournament, with the loser being sent to the Conference League, but a draw would favour Leicester City as they had the points advantage over the Italian side.

Leicester’s fate looked sealed 25 minutes into the first half as they found themselves 2-0 down, with Napoli scoring their first goal just four minutes into the game through Adam Ounas.

With Napoli fans ecstatic at having a commanding lead in the first half, Leicester quickly made them silent, with two quickfire goals from Jonny Evans and Kieren Dewsbury-Hall just minutes after falling two goals down, quickly putting the emphasis back on Napoli to score to qualify out of the group.

Napoli came out firing in the second half and reaped the rewards as Eljif Elmas scored his second of the game and Napoli’s third to put them back in pole position to advance to the next stages.

With Leicester’s fate in the competition at stake, they put the pressure on Napoli for the rest of the game, going close multiple times, but Napoli’s defence prevailed and managed to prevent another goal flurry to advance to the knockout stages and send Leicester into the Conference League.