Tottenham in Champions League: Is there hope of a Spurs comeback?

Erik Lamela
Tottenham have taken just one point from this season's first three Champions League matches

Tottenham have taken one point from their opening three Champions League games and are staring down the barrel of early elimination.

But is there hope for Mauricio Pochettino and his team?

Since the Champions League introduced its current format at the start of the 2003-04 season, seven teams have progressed from the group having taken a single point from their first three games.

Here, BBC Sport takes a look at four of the most remarkable comebacks...

Arsenal 2003-04

Arsenal began their 2003-04 Champions League campaign with a 3-0 home defeat by Inter Milan before a goalless draw with Lokomotiv Moscow and a 2-1 defeat away to Dynamo Kiev left them bottom of Group B.

But Arsene Wenger's side then edged past Dynamo Kiev 1-0 at Highbury to remain in contention before Thierry Henry scored twice in a famous 5-1 thrashing of Inter Milan at the San Siro. The comeback was completed when a 2-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow ensured the Gunners went through as group winners.

Wenger's side would eventually reach the quarter-finals, where they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea.

Porto 2004-05

Porto struggled to recreate the heroics of their 2003-04 Champions League-winning campaign the following season, and failed to win any of their first four group games - their only points coming from home draws with CSKA Moscow and Paris St-Germain.

But they made it through to the last 16 thanks to wins over CSKA Moscow and Chelsea before being knocked out by Inter Milan, Adriano's hat-trick condemning the Portuguese side to a 4-2 aggregate defeat.

Liverpool 2007-08

After taking just one point from their first three games Rafael Benitez's side needed to find a little inspiration if they were going to progress from a group containing Porto, Besiktas and Marseille.

Well, they got it. A Yossi Benayoun hat-trick, doubles from Peter Crouch and Ryan Babel, and a Steven Gerrard howitzer saw the Reds thrash Besiktas at Anfield, before a 4-1 win over Porto and a 4-0 thumping of Marseille saw them safely through to the knock-out stages, where they were eventually eliminated by Chelsea in the semi-finals.

Galatasaray 2012-13

Turkish side Galatasaray lost their opening group game against Manchester United courtesy of Michael Carrick's goal at Old Trafford and followed up the defeat by losing at home to Braga and drawing against Cluj.

But three consecutive victories - including a 1-0 win over United - allowed them to take second spot with 10 points. They went on to reach the quarter-finals, where they suffered a 5-3 aggregate defeat against Real Madrid.

Newcastle 2002-03

A bonus inclusion here: it may have come a season before the current format was introduced, but this one was too good to leave out.

Newcastle have the distinction of being the only side to lose their first three games in the Champions League but still qualify from a group.

Sir Bobby Robson's side's recovery began with a home victory over Juventus, before they came from 2-1 down to beat Dynamo Kiev. In their final match they needed to win at Feyenoord and hope Dynamo failed to beat Juventus.

The Italians duly won 2-1, but Newcastle still went into injury time against Feyenoord poised to exit the competition having lost a two-goal lead. However, with seconds remaining Craig Bellamy escaped the home defence and slotted in the winner to send his side through.

Newcastle then went into another group stage and were once again in contention to qualify going into their final game - but it was not to be second-time lucky for Robson's men.

Also in Sport

Elsewhere on the BBC