The San Francisco 49ers produced a thrilling fightback to set up a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas.
Defending champions Kansas City won the first of Sunday’s Conference Championship games, beating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 to reach the NFL’s big game for a fourth time in five years.
The Detroit Lions, one of just four NFL teams never to play in the Super Bowl, then led 24-7 at half-time against five-time winners San Francisco.
But the 49ers scored 17 points in a dramatic eight-minute span to draw level, before going in front for the first time with just under 10 minutes left.
The hosts then held on to win 34-31 and set up a repeat of Super Bowl 54, when Kansas City beat San Francisco 31-20 in Miami.
After winning Super Bowl 57 last year, the Chiefs now have the chance to cement their dynasty by winning a third NFL title in five years and becoming the first back-to-back champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
San Francisco have been favourites to win Super Bowl 58 since late November because of their star-studded roster while Kansas City were playing in the AFC Championship game for a sixth straight year.
But in the last two weeks of the play-offs both teams have both had to dig deep to book their spot on the Strip on 11 February.
The 49ers, the top seed in the NFC Conference, had to come from behind to survive a scare against Green Bay in the divisional round before recovering from an even bigger deficit against Detroit.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, had to play on the road in the play-offs for the first time during their recent spell of dominance, yet they have still shown their championship quality by winning at Buffalo and now Baltimore, the AFC’s top seed.
