15 of the biggest batterings in Champions League history

Chelsea have won 6-0 in the Champions League on two separate occasions: in 2014 they thrashed Maribor, before turning their fire on Qarabag three years later.

The Azerbaijani champions, making their competition debut, were humiliated by a rotated Blues side at Stamford Bridge. Davide Zappacosta scored the pick of the goals, marauding down the right flank and looping a shot (or was it a cross?) over the goalkeeper from a tight angle.

Shakhtar did an excellent job of containing Bayern in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in 2014/15, holding the Bavarians to a 0-0 draw in Lviv.

Yet they couldn’t repeat the feat back in Munich, as two goals from Thomas Muller – including a fourth-minute penalty – helped Bayern to a 7-0 triumph. That obliteration sent Pep Guardiola’s side through to the semi-finals, where they were well beaten by Barcelona.

Leeds reached the Champions League semi-finals in 1999/2000, eventually losing to Valencia after famous results against Milan, Lazio and Barcelona.

Their biggest victory that season came against Turkish opposition, United showing no remorse as Besiktas were hammered in an Elland Road group game. Lee Bowyer opened and closed the scoring, with Mark Viduka, Dominic Matteo, Eirik Bakke and Darren Huckerby also bagging.

Not since the 2009/10 season have Arsenal reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, all seven subsequent campaigns ending at the round of 16. Three times in five years, it was Bayern Munich turfing them out at the first knockout stage: on away goals in 2013, 3-1 on aggregate in 2014 and in this 2017 annihilation.

Having lost 5-1 in spectacular fashion in the first leg at the Allianz Arena, the Gunners took a 1-0 lead back at the Emirates. Optimists may even have started to believe a sensational comeback was possible, but Bayern scored five in reply to emulate their first-leg triumph and eliminate their rivals.

Liverpool equalled the record for the largest away win in the Champions League when they dismantled Maribor 7-0 in the 2016/17 group stage.

Braces from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, as well as individual goals scored by Philippe Coutinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Trent Alexander-Arnold, gave the Reds a handsome win on the road, boosting their chances of making it through to the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time since 2009. 

On paper, this should have been a straightforward, no-frills sort of victory for the German side; instead they conceded four goals to a team who had already shown themselves to be lacking in Champions League-level quality.

The good news for Dortmund was that they found the net eight times themselves, contributing to a new Champions League record for goals scored in a single game. Shinji Kagawa struck twice in just 76 seconds on a remarkable night at Signal Iduna Park which probably had Tony Pulis switching off in disgust.

Barcelona were the holders and favourites heading into the 1994 showpiece, with Milan perceived to be on the wane after their Arrigo Sacchi-led heyday.

Such predictions proved inaccurate, though, as Fabio Capello’s side produced an uncharacteristic attacking masterclass to romp to the title with the biggest winning margin in a Champions League final. Daniele Massaro’s double and goals from Dejan Savicevic and Marcel Desailly made the difference, as Pep Guardiola, Romario, Ronald Koeman & Co. slumped to a record defeat.

Barcelona, as you might expect, have handed out a fair few Champions League drubbings over the years. Their biggest win came in 2016/17, the Catalans tearing apart Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side 7-0 at the Camp Nou.

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick, while Neymar and Andres Iniesta also netted before Rodgers’ former charge Luis Suarez completed the scoring with a brace. It could all have been so different had Moussa Dembele not seen his penalty saved at 1-0…

Only three teams have won 7-0 away from home in the Champions League: Marseille against Zilina in 2010, Liverpool against Maribor in 2017, and Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014.

It could have been even better for the Ukrainians in Belarus; at half-time the visitors were 6-0 up thanks to goals from three Brazilians - Alex Teixeira (one), Douglas Costa (one) and Luiz Adriano (four). The latter grabbed his fifth late on to equal Lionel Messi's record for goals in a single Champions League match.

Ask any Brazilian - carefully - whether a German team slacks off sympathetically when winning. Like die Mannschaft in the 2014 World Cup semi-final, Bayern Munich just kept going for this – the biggest aggregate margin in Champions League history. Having won the first leg 5-0 thanks to braces from Franck Ribery and Luca Toni, they drubbed the poor Portuguese 7-1 back in Munich.

Bayern looked unstoppable, but they were hammered 5-1 by Barcelona in the quarter-finals and, struggling in the Bundesliga, parted company with manager Jurgen Klinsmann in April. Jupp Heynckes, as he so often is, was available to step up and temporarily take the reins.

For 13 years, Monaco’s demolition of Deportivo was the highest-scoring match in Champions League history. Dado Prso helped himself to four goals on his 29th birthday, with Monaco going on to top the group and reach the final.

Deportivo’s evening looked over after just half an hour, when they found themselves 4-0 down. The La Liga outfit did briefly threaten a comeback after the break, but Monaco re-applied foot to gas to register an 8-3 mauling.

Cristiano Ronaldo (who else?) bagged four in Madrid’s massacre of Malmo in 2015, which set them on their way to an 11th European Cup triumph. Karim Benzema also helped himself to a hat-trick against the obliging Swedes, who had only narrowly lost to Madrid in the return fixture back in September.

This was the perfect way for los Blancos to round off the group stage, which preceded victories over Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City in the knockout rounds, before a penalty shoot-out success against neighbours Atletico Madrid in the final.

The pressure was on Liverpool heading into this group game with Besiktas: the Reds, finalists the previous season, realistically needed a win to keep their chances of progression alive.

They needn’t have worried. Yossi Benayoun’s hat-trick and a double from Peter Crouch helped Rafael Benitez’s men to a stunning 8-0 thrashing of the Turkish outfit, who just couldn’t live with Liverpool’s incisive attacking. The Merseysiders went on to reach the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by familiar foes Chelsea.

Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored twice as Manchester United recorded their biggest Champions League win with this quarter-final victory over Roma.

The Red Devils, looking to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, were 3-0 up inside 19 minutes at Old Trafford. Ronaldo netted either side of the break before Carrick and Patrice Evra completed the rout, with Daniele De Rossi scoring a lovely consolation late on. United, though, were undone by a Kaka-inspired Milan in the last four.

After suffering humiliation in a 4-0 loss in France, Barcelona turned the tables on PSG to advance to the quarter-finals in astonishing circumstances at Camp Nou.

Luis Enrique’s men raced into a 3-0 lead after 50 minutes of this second leg, but a crucial away goal from Edinson Cavani shortly after the hour mark seemed to extinguish their hopes of a turnaround. Yet the hosts refused to give up and, largely thanks to Neymar’s brilliance, scored three goals from the 88th minute onwards to ensure this game would go down in Barcelona and Champions League folklore.