What are the biggest wins in the history of the Champions League?
Liverpool’s 1-7 win at Rangers on Matchday 4 was a result rarely seen in the Champions League. Impressive as it was, it doesn’t make the Top 10 biggest wins.
The 2022/23 Champions League group stage reaches its conclusion on Wednesday with 271 goals scored so far. Napoli (20), Bayern Munich (18) and Liverpool (17) advance to the Last 16 as the top-scoring sides over the six matchdays. Almost half of Liverpool’s tally came from their trip to Ibrox on Matchday 4. The 1-7 walloping of Rangers ranks among the Reds’ biggest wins in the Champions League, and in European competition as a whole. It just wasn’t enough to creep into the Top 10 list of the biggest victories since the Champions League began in 1991 but Liverpool already hold the record for the victory by the biggest margin in competition proper - i.e. from the group stage onwards, a record they jointly share with Real Madrid.
Biggest win in qualifying rounds
The win by the biggest margin in the competition as a whole - including the qualifying rounds was set by Icelandic outfit HJK Helsinki against Bangor City in the second qualifying round at Töölo Football Stadion in July 2011. Poor old Bangor City goalkeeper Lee Idzi had to pick the ball out of the back of his net an eye-watering 10 times during the match. The 10-0 result stands as the record in the Champions League era but here we focus the biggest wins from the group stage to the final, when all of the continent’s top teams join the tournament.
A total of 11 Champions League games have ended 7-0 in the competition proper. It’s the second highest scoreline in the tournament - here they are in chronological order:
2003/04 season
Juventus 7-0 Olympiacos
10 December 2003: Delle Alpi
Goal scorers: Trezeguet 14′, 25′; Miccoli 19′, Maresca 28′, Di Vaio 62′, Del Piero 67′, Zalayeta 79′.
2007/08 season
Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague
23 October 2007: Emirates stadium
Goal scorers: Fàbregas 5′, 58′; Hubáček 24′ o.g. Walcott 41′, 55′; Hleb 51′, Bendtner 89′.
2010/11 season
Zilina 0-7 Olympique Marseille
3 November 2010: Stadión MSK Zilina
Goal scorers: Gignac 12′, 21′, 54′; Heinze 24′, Rémy 36′, Lucho González 52′, 63′.
2011/12 season
Valencia 7-0 Genk
23 November 2011: Mestalla
Goal scorers: Jonas 10′, Soldado 13′, 35′, 39′; Pablo Hernández 68′, Aritz Aduriz 70′, Costa 81′.
Bayern Munich 7-0 Basel
13 March 2012: Allianz Arena
Goal scorers: Robben 11′, 81′; Müller 42′, Gomez 44′, 50′, 61′, 67′.
2014/15 season
BATE Borisov 0-7 Shakhtar Donetsk
21 October 2014: Borisov-Arena
Goal scorers: Alex Teixeira 11′, Luiz Adriano 28′ (pen), 36′, 40′, 44′, 82′ (pen); Douglas Costa 35′.
Bayern Munich 7-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
11 March 2015: Allianz Arena
Goal scorers: Müller 4′ (pen) 51′; Boateng 34′, Ribéry 49′, Badstuber 63′, Lewandowski 75′, Götze 87′.
2016/17 season
Barcelona 7-0 Celtic
13 September 2016: Camp Nou
Goal scorers: Messi 3′, 27′, 60′; Neymar 50′, Iniesta 59′, Suárez 75′, 88′.
2017/18 season
Maribor 0-7 Liverpool 2017
17 October 2017: Stadion Ljudski vrt
Goal scorers: Firmino 4′, 54′; Coutinho 13′, Salah 19′, 40′; Oxlade-Chamberlain 86′, Alexander-Arnold 90′
Liverpool 7-0 Spartak Moscow
6 December 2017: Anfield
Goal scorers: Coutinho 4′ (pen), 15′, 50′; Firmino 19′, Mané 47′, 76′, Salah 86′.
2018/19 season
Manchester City 7-0 Schalke 04
12 March 2019: Etihad stadium
Goal scorers: Agüero (pen) 35′, 38′, Sané 42′, Sterling 56′, Bernardo Silva 71′, Foden 78′, Gabriel Jesus 84′.
The biggest wins in Champions League history
2007/08 season
Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas
6 November 2007: Anfield
Goal scorers: Crouch 19′, 89′; Benayoun 32′, 53′, 56′; Gerrard 69′; Babel 78′, 81′
On a chilly night in Anfield on 6 November 2007, Liverpool became the first club to score eight goals in the Champions League, serving Turkish side Besiktas a pummeling they will never forget in the final group game.
Voronin and Yossi Benayoun missed early chances at the Anfield Road end but Peter Crouch finally broke the deadlock, beating Hakan Arikan at the second attempt to set Rafa Benítez’s men on their way. Benayoun gleefully rifled in the first of his three goals that night on the half hour.
For all of their chances, Liverpool went in at the break with a slim two-goal lead. The floodgates opened when Benayoun completed his hat trick within 10 minutes of the restart - slotting in two rebounds from close range. Steven Gerrard made it 5-0 finishing off a marauding run with a fierce, swerving drive. Substitute Ryan Babel sent the Kop wild with delight after beating Arikan with a cheeky backheel then grabbed his second of the night three minutes later, with an equally unorthodox finish - Ibrahim Toraman’s attempted clearance took an unlucky deflection of the Dutch forward and looped high over the keeper and under the bar. Peter Crouch wrapped up a magical night on 89 minutes, nodding in a Benayoun cross as Liverpool set a new record in the Champions League era.
2015/16 season
Real Madrid 8-0 Malmö
8 December 2015: Santiago Bernabéu
Goalscorers: Benzema 12′, 24′, 74′ Cristiano Ronaldo 39′, 47′, 50′, 59′; Kovacic 70′
Real Madrid equalled the record eight years later with the same coach - Rafa Benítez and also in the final game of the group stage The Spaniard moved back to his hometown and his old club in 2015 after stints at Inter, Chelsea and Napoli. His Madrid side had already booked their place in the next round when Malmö visited the Bernabéu on Matchday 6.
Meeting the mighty Madrid for the first time in official competition, the Swedes had lost the home fixture 0-2 on Matchday 2 but no one expected the hiding they would receive at the Bernabéu. Karim Benzema was left unmarked to slot in the opener on 12 minutes the connected with a Cristiano Ronaldo cross to nod home number two before the half hour.
Ronaldo made it 3-0 with a fierce, low free-kick which bounced awkwardly for the keeper with half-time approaching and when play resumed, both he and Benzema would complete their hat tricks. Ronaldo took just 19 minutes to complete his personal, four-goal haul. Mateo Kovacic slammed in No.7 - his first goal for the club and Benzema wrapped up an historic night by tucking in the goal that equalled the record with 15 minutes remaining.
Another place in the history books for Real Madrid and for Rafa Benítez but despite overseeing that win - plus the 10-2 thumping of Rayo a couple of weeks later, it appeared his card was already marked. Five games later the club decided to rescind his contract and bring in Zidane.