10 biggest wins in Champions League history | OneFootball

The Champions League is the most coveted prize in club football and sees Europe's most elite clubs compete against each other. Over the years, it has provided some extraordinary games of football that go back and forth between two teams until one eventually emerges victorious.

You'd struggle to find a more competitive tournament anywhere. However, there have still been some demolitions in past editions over the years and Lens learned that the hard way when they went to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in November 2023 and were thrashed 6-0 by Mikel Arteta's side.

Despite the commanding scoreline, that match doesn't make the list of the biggest wins in the Champions League over the years. Nor is it even Arsenal's largest-ever victory in the competition. Here at GIVEMESPORT, we're going to count down the ten biggest wins in Champions League history and find out which clubs have been the most ruthless in Europe. It must be noted that all entries on this list are taken from after the tournament was rebranded from the European Cup to the Champions League in 1992.

10 Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig (2022/23 season)

The year of 2023 was when Manchester City finally got their hands on the trophy they'd been pursuing for so long and the feeling that it was their year would have been first cemented when they dismantled RB Leipzig in the Round of 16. Having breezed through the group stage with relative ease, Pep Guardiola's side were drawn to face the German side in the first round of the knockout stages and nerves must have set in when they could only manage a 1-1 draw in the first leg away from home.

However, if there had been any doubts, they were quickly dispelled in the return fixture as Erling Haaland and his teammates ran riot at the Etihad. The Norwegian forward scored five times, alongside goals Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne, to seal an outstanding 8-1 aggregate victory and from then on, City never looked back and eventually won their first-ever Champions League title.

9 Manchester City 7-0 Schalke 04 (2018/19 season)

City's massacre of Leipzig equalled their biggest ever victory in the competition, which also came over a German side in the round of 16 four years before. In similar fashion, Guardiola's side had struggled in the first leg after being reduced to ten men for the final quarter of the game, and it took a late rally from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling for them to edge a close affair 3-2.

There was nothing close about the return leg as City raced ahead with a goal from Sane and a brace from Sergio Aguero effectively ending the match as a contest by half-time. But that didn't stop the Sky Blues pressing home their advantage and further goals from Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus extended their winning margin to seven goals and earned them a place in the quarter-final after a 10-2 aggregate victory.

8 Liverpool 7-0 Spartak Moscow - 2017/18 season

Liverpool's 2017/18 Champions League campaign was memorable for a number of reasons, but they had an inconsistent group stage campaign in which they were unstoppable at times and poor at others. They hosted Spartak Moscow in their final group match knowing they just had to avoid defeat to book their place in the knockout stages.

Any worries over a potential upset were quickly eradicated when, after a quarter of an hour, the Reds found themselves 2-0 up thanks to a brace from Philippe Coutinho, who was captaining the club for the first time. Fellow Brazilian Roberto Firmino made it three soon after that and Jurgen Klopp's side continued to torment their Russian opponents, eventually winning 7-0 win, with Coutinho completing his only Liverpool hat-trick in one of his last games for the club before his big-money move to Barcelona.

7 NK Maribor 0-7 Liverpool - 2017/18 season

Earlier in the group stage, after both of their opening matches ended in draws, Liverpool had won another match 7-0 and reassured their supporters that they were capable of making it out of their group. This is the only win away from home on this list.

Maribor are the only team to ever represent Slovenia in the Champions League group stage and the 2017/18 tournament was the third time they reached that point. As a result, they were one of the weaker teams in the competition and the Reds ruthlessly exploited that fact as they stormed to a 7-0 victory thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

6 FC Barcelona 7-0 Celtic (2016/17 season)

Celtic went the entire 2016/17 season unbeaten domestically and won the treble, but this wasn't enough to stop them exiting the Champions League with a whimper after finishing bottom of their group. Their first group match was at the Nou Camp against Barcelona and they were soundly beaten by the Blaugrana.

Lionel Messi bagged a hat-trick, while Neymar, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez all got their names on the scoresheet alongside the Argentinian, in a dominant 7-0 victory for Luis Enrique's side. The Spanish giants would go on to top their group in the edition of the tournament that saw them launch the most memorable of comebacks against PSG in the round of 16, before they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Juventus.

5 Bayern Munich 7-0 FC Basel - 2011/12 season

In the 2011/12 campaign, Bayern Munich eased through the group stage and were handed a relatively kind draw against FC Basel in the round of 16. However, Jupp Heynckes' side were stunned in the first leg in Switzerland as Valentin Stocker's late strike saw Basel emerge as the victors.

Bayern's retaliation in the return leg was profound, and Mario Gomez scored four times as the Germans overturned the one-goal deficit to breeze into the next round. The Bavarians would go on to reach the Champions League final, which was held at their own ground, the Allianz Arena, but dramatically lost on penalties to Chelsea.

4 Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague - 2007/08 season

Arsenal had made a blistering start to the 2007/08 season by the time Slavia Prague journeyed to North London. The Gunners had won their last ten matches in all competitions, including their first two group games in the Champions League, and they showed no signs of slowing down when they faced the Czech side.

Goals from Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott, as well as an own goal from David Hubacek, saw Arsene Wenger's side go in at half-time 3-0 up, and they continued in the same form after the break. Fabregas and Walcott each added their second goal of the match, and Alexander Hleb and Nicklas Bendtner also got in on the act to secure Arsenal's joint-biggest win ever in a European competition.

3 Juventus 7-0 Olympiacos - 2003/04 season

This is by far the earliest entry on this list and also the last game won by a seven-goal margin. Juventus had already confirmed their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League when they hosted Olympiacos in December 2003, but they didn't show any mercy to the Greek side as a result.

The Italian giants were 4-0 up after half an hour with David Trezeguet bagging a brace and Fabrizio Miccoli and Vincenzo Maresca also finding the net. The Old Lady would end up winning the match 7-0 and faced Deportivo la Coruna in the round of 16, where they were beaten 2-0 over two legs as the Spanish side ended up reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League for the very first time.

2 Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo FF - 2015/16 season

This match was one of two eight-goal winning margins in the history of the Champions League. Real Madrid had failed to win just one of their first five group matches and had already confirmed their place in the knockout stages long before Malmo made the trip to the Spanish capital.

The Swedish side were still able to earn a place in the Europa League with a result against Rafael Benitez's side, but any chances of that were quickly slashed as Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo ran riot at the Bernabeu. The Frenchman scored a hat-trick while Ronaldo went better with four goals and the pair were joined on the scoresheet by Mateo Kovavic, as Real sealed a rampant 8-0 win on the way to winning their 11th Champions League title.

1

Rafael Benitez has masterminded both 8-0 victories in Champions League history as Liverpool feature on this list for a third time. Having failed to win any of their opening three group matches, the Reds' chances of reaching the knockout stages were looking slim, and they would have been desperate to get revenge on a Besiktas side that had beaten them 2-1 in Istanbul two weeks before.

Liverpool certainly righted that wrong with a ruthless performance against the Turkish outfit as Yossi Benayoun scored his first hat-trick for the club, while Peter Crouch and Ryan Babel each bagged braces as the Reds got their Champions League campaign back on track with an 8-0 victory. Liverpool won their remaining two games in order to make it out of their group and ended up reaching the semi-finals of the competition, where they were narrowly beaten over two legs by Chelsea.