Key Takeaways
In the Champions League, home matches can bridge the gap between top and bottom teams.
Historical home games like Barcelona 7-0 Celtic and Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo showcase teams' dominance.
Top European clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester City have produced major home victories in the competition.
Reputed to be the most prestigious of inter-club competitions, the Champions League is also one of the hardest on the planet. This does not mean, however, that there is any lack of consistency between the top and bottom teams.
It's a gap that a home match, played in front of a home crowd, can bridge to a greater or lesser extent, as well as intensify. In some cases, even to the point of the visiting team serving as a real whipping boy for their opponents.
In this article, GIVEMESPORT has delved into the annals of one of the world's greatest football competitions to find traces of the most important home victories since 1992 and the famous reform of the Champions League.
|Biggest Home Wins in Champions League History|
|Rank|Match|Date|
|1.|Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo FF|8th December 2015|
|2.|Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas JK|6th November 2007|
|3.|Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb|17th September 2024|
|4.|Valencia CF 7-0 KRC Genk|23rd November 2011|
|5.|Manchester City 7-0 Schalke 04|12th March 2019|
|6.|Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague|23rd November 2007|
|7.|Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig|14th March 2023|
|8.|Bayern Munich 7-0 FC Basel|13th March 2012|
|9.|Juventus 7-0 Olympiakos|10th December 2003|
|10.|Barcelona 7-0 Celtic|13th September 2016|
|---|
10 Barcelona 7-0 Celtic
2016/17
Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates scoring their second goal
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 13th September 2016
Venue: Camp Nou
Goalscorers: Lionel Messi (3', 27', 60'), Neymar (50'), Andres Iniesta (59'), Luis Suarez (75', 88')
After the disappointment of their quarter-final exit to Atletico Madrid a few months earlier, Barcelona began their 2016/17 Champions League campaign with the ambition of returning to the top. In fact, the Blaugrana got off to the best possible start. Against Scottish champions Celtic, Luis Enrique's men made no bones about it, firing past Dorus de Vries seven times.
In a state of grace, the ‘MSN’, Barça's famous attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, shone brightly. The former scored a hat-trick and provided an assist, the latter bagged a brace, while the latter was involved in five - one goal and four assists - of his team's seven goals. It was a remarkable debut, but one that the following months would unfortunately soon forget.
9 Juventus 7-0 Olympiakos
2003/04
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 10th December 2003
Venue: Stadio delle Alpi
Goalscorers: David Trezeguet (14', 25'), Fabrizio Miccoli (19'), Enzo Maresca (28'), Marco Di Vaio (62'), Alessandro Del Piero (67'), Marcelo Zalayeta (79')
It can sometimes be difficult to recover from a heavy disappointment. For Juventus, unfortunate finalists in the 2002/03 edition, the group stage of its 2003/04 counterpart was supposed to be a confidence-booster. And so it proved. Leaders of their group after the first round, the Bianconeri had achieved a near-perfect record, conceding their only defeat to Olympiakos on Matchday 2.
The Italians made amends for that defeat on their reunion at the Stadio delle Alpi in December, crushing the Greek club 7-0. It was a celebration in which a certain Enzo Maresca took part, scoring and setting up twice for the occasion.
8 Bayern Munich 7-0 FC Basel
2011/12
Stage: Round of 16
Date: 13th March 2012
Venue: Allianz Arena
Goalscorers: Arjen Robben (11', 81'), Thomas Muller (42'), Mario Gomez (44', 50', 61', 67')
If travelling to Munich's Allianz Arena is never a walk in the park, doing so after beating Bayern in the first leg of a knockout round is almost guaranteed to be a night in hell. Just ask the players from FC Basel. Beaten 1-0 by the Bavarians in the first leg of their last-16 tie two weeks earlier, the Swiss travelled to Germany in search of an unlikely result and, why not, a ticket to the quarter-finals of the competition.
Unfortunately for them, they needed just 10 minutes to be brought back to reality. The moment chosen by Arjen Robben to kick-start an evening from which RotBlau emerged neither unscathed nor qualified, but with seven goals conceded. Clinical.
7 Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig
2022/23
Manchester City's Julian Alvarez celebrates scoring their third goal with Erling Braut Haaland and Rico Lewis
Stage: Round of 16
Date: 14th March 2023
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Goalscorers: Erling Haaland (22', 24', 45'+2, 53', 57'), Ilkay Gundogan (49'), Kevin De Bruyne (90'+2)
Do you know what Lionel Messi, Luis Adriano and Erling Haaland have in common? They are the only three players to have scored five goals in a single Champions League match. Respectively responsible for this extraordinary performance against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 and BATE Borisov in 2014, the two South American players saw the Norwegian striker follow in their footsteps in March 2023.
It was an experience that the RB Leipzig players, victims of the Scandinavian golgoth's attacking fury that evening, are not about to forget. What is more, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne were also on target. It just goes to show that, in the end, the Germans don't always win.
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6 Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague
2007/08
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 23rd November 2007
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Goalscorers: Cesc Fabregas (5', 58'), David Hubacek (24', OG), Theo Walcott (41', 55'), Aleksandr Hleb (51'), Nicklas Bendtner (89')
A first goal is always a special moment, but perhaps a first Champions League goal is even more magical. Theo Walcott will always remember his. Scored against Slavia Prague in a crushing 7-0 victory for the Gunners, it was later followed by a second, his first career double, and even an assist.
An exceptional performance from a player whose talent everyone, including Arsene Wenger, was aware of, but who could only be enhanced by a top-class performance on the world's most prestigious stage. And it certainly paid off, something to which the rest of Walcott's career is certainly the best testimony.
5 Manchester City 7-0 Schalke 04
2018/19
Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring their seventh goal with team mates
Stage: Round of 16
Date: 12th March 2019
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Goalscorers: Sergio Aguero (35', 38'), Leroy Sane (42'), Raheem Sterling (56'), Bernardo Silva (71'), Phil Foden (78'), Gabriel Jesus (84')
The Germans definitely do not travel well at the Etihad Stadium. In March 2019, almost four years to the day before RB Leipzig, another German club, Schalke 04, also experienced the wrath of Manchester City. It must be said that the surprise elimination of Paris Saint-Germain, Roma and Real Madrid a week earlier had sounded a warning to Pep Guardiola's players.
And as prevention is always better than cure, they decided not to allow the Miners any glimmer of hope, despite what their narrow 2-3 first-leg defeat might have suggested. Seven goals in the space of fifty minutes was more than enough.
4 Valencia CF 7-0 KRC Genk
2011/12
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 23rd November 2011
Venue: Estadio Mestalla
Goalscorers: Jonas (10'), Roberto Soldado (13', 36', 39'), Pablo Hernandez (68'), Aritz Aduriz (70'), Tino Costa (81')
Although Valencia fans have had to deal with their team's mediocre results for far too many seasons now, this was not always the case. There was even a time when Che's place was in Europe, where they regularly competed in the Champions League and Europa League.
This was particularly the case during the 2011/12 season, when, despite being eliminated from the Champions League group stage, the latter was marked by a convincing 7-0 win over Belgian side KRC Genk at the Mestalla. Jonas, Roberto Soldada, Aritz Aduriz and Sofiane Feghouli: a period so close that it seems so long ago.
3 Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb
2024/25
Stage: Group Phase
Date: 17th September 2024
Venue: Allianz Arena
Goalscorers: Harry Kane (19', 57', 73', 78'), Raphael Guerreiro (33'), Michael Olise (38', 61'), Leroy Sane (85'), Leon Goretzka (90'+2) // Bruno Petkovic (49'), Takuya Ogiwara (50')
After a year's absence from the Champions League group stage, it's a safe bet that Dinamo Zagreb were hoping for a better reunion with the competition than the Croatian club experienced in the 2024/25 season. The draw be damned.
And while kicking off their European campaign against Bayern Munich is difficult enough, doing so with a 9-2 defeat is bound to take its toll on confidence. On the other hand, Vincent Kompany's men took the opportunity to make C1 history. It is not every day that you become the first team to score nine goals in the same match. Quite a record.
2 Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas JK
2007/08
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 6th November 2007
Venue: Anfield
Goalscorers: Peter Crouch (19', 89'), Yossi Benayoun (32', 53', 56'), Steven Gerrard (69'), Ryan Babel (78', 81')
Over the course of its history, Anfield has, of course, witnessed many exceptional nights. The one in November 2007 against Besiktas is certainly one of them. Having lost two games in a row, the last of which was to Besiktas, the Reds had no choice but to kick off their return campaign with a win.
And they did just that, with Yossi Benayoun (hat-trick), Peter Crouch, Ryan Babel (double) and Steven Gerrard taking care of the Black Eagles. It was a record-breaking and seminal victory for Rafael Benitez's side, whose adventure would come to an end in the semi-final against eventual winners Chelsea.
1 Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo FF
2015/16
Stage: Group Stage
Date: 8th December 2015
Venue: Estadio Santiago-Bernabeu
Goalscorers: Karim Benzema (12', 24', 74'), Cristiano Ronaldo (39', 47', 50', 58'), Mateo Kovacic (70')
It would almost have been surprising not to see the most successful club in Champions League history appear on this list. But could they have been anywhere but in first place? They couldn't have. Because on the road to their eleventh European title, Real Madrid had no intention of doing anyone any favours.
Their 8-0 victory over Sweden's Malmo to round off a group phase they had dominated head and shoulders was the best proof of that. It was a night of celebration, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring four times and his strike partner Karim Benzema scoring a hat-trick. Mateo Kovacic rounded off the scoring. It was a victory that sent out a message to their future opponents, who all bore the brunt of the Spanish club's power.
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Correct as of 27-11-2024.