The Biggest Champions League Knockout Victories - Ranked
Some of the most memorable matches in football history have come in the Champions League knockout stages. Usually, that's because of dramatic comebacks and high-quality performances from all 22 players.
However, sometimes, those games go down in infamy for being overwhelmingly one-sided as one team storms to a cricket scoreline with very little difficulty. To be honest, they're just as fun.
Let's take a look at the biggest victories in knockout stage history.
11. Schalke 1-6 Real Madrid - Last 16 (2013/14)
Starting off strong with a nice six-goal haul for Real Madrid, who were taking no prisoners en route to La Décima in 2013/14.
Schalke were the unfortunate victims in the last 16 that year, and they were powerless to prevent Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale from all finding the back of the net twice.
It took Schalke 91 minutes to snatch a goal of their own, although Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's volley may well have been the best goal of the night, so it wasn't all bad.
10. Bayern Munich 6-1 Porto - Quarter-Final (2014/15)
Porto actually snatched an unlikely 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their tie in the 2014/15 quarter-final, and the Germans were clearly out for revenge in the return fixture.
Bayern thundered home five goals in the first half and controlled the second 45 to pick up a 6-1 victory, ensuring Pep Guardiola avoided a European humbling two years in a row.
They eventually fell to Barcelona in the semi-final, halting their hopes of defending their crown.
9. Barcelona 6-1 PSG - Last 16 (2016/17)
This tie could well be one of the craziest in Champions League history.
Paris Saint-Germain stormed to a dominant 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg, and given no side had ever come back from four goals down, it seemed pretty certain that Barça's time was up.
The Spaniards played well in the second leg, but despite that, they were still 5-3 down on aggregate in the 88th minute. There was no hope.
And then La Remontada happened.
Barça somehow grabbed three goals in the dying stages of the game to book their place in the quarter-final in unbelievable fashion. Neymar was the star of the show, and he jumped ship just a few months later.
8. Lyon 7-2 Werder Bremen - Last 16 (2004/05)
You know when a tie is already decided in the first leg, so the leaders take their foot off the gas for the second? Yeah, Lyon did not do that.
Already 3-0 up on aggregate, Lyon ensured Werder Bremen would never sleep again as they stormed to a 7-2 win in the return leg.
Sylvain Wiltord bagged a hat-trick and ex-Chelsea man Michael Essien even managed to get himself on the score sheet twice, in what was a memorable night for everyone involved - just for very different reasons.
7. Manchester United 7-1 Roma - Quarter-Final (2006/07)
Perhaps Manchester United's greatest performance under Sir Alex Ferguson came in the quarter-final of the 2006/07 tournament against Roma.
United needed something special after losing the first leg 2-1, and they got exactly that as Cristiano Ronaldo helped inspire the Red Devils to a thumping 7-1 victory.
They looked to have one foot in the final after beating AC Milan 3-2 in the semis, only to fall victim to a comeback themselves as I Rossoneri ran out 3-0 winners.
6. Bayern Munich 7-1 Sporting CP - Last 16 (2008/09)
Bayern's 5-0 win over Sporting in the first leg of this tie narrowly missed out on a spot on this list, but their 7-1 win in the return fixture definitely needs a place of its own.
It was 'The Lukas Podolski Show' early on as the German thundered home two excellent goals, and it just sort of snowballed from there. Sporting's consolation only made them angrier as Bayern bagged another three after the break.
The 12-1 aggregate victory set a competition record which likely won't be beaten anytime soon.
5. Barcelona 7-1 Bayer Leverkusen - Last 16 (2011/12)
Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League game as he steered Barcelona to a dominant 7-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Against Guardiola's finest, Leverkusen never stood a chance. They were already 3-1 down after the first leg, but they could not have imagined the kind of beating they were about to receive. It was so bad that Cristian Tello managed to score twice!
Karim Bellarabi chimed in with a consolation in the 91st minute, but all it did was extend Leverkusen's suffering.
4. Barcelona 2-8 Bayern Munich - Quarter-Final (2019/20)
While most entries on this list look like they were always going to be one-sided on paper, Bayern Munich's quarter-final against Barcelona should have been pretty even.
It was not.
4-1 up at half time, Bayern again refused to ease up and banged home four more to inflict Barça's heaviest-ever European defeat. Can you imagine if this tie was actually two-legged?
3. Bayern Munich 7-0 Basel - Last 16 (2011/12)
We always knew Basel's surprise 1-0 win over Bayern Munich was probably going to be overturned in the second leg, but we didn't know just how easily that would be done.
Bayern were level after 11 minutes, and what followed was a decisive pummelling from the team who would have won the whole tournament had Didier Drogba not reached Civil War-stopping levels of heroism again.
Mario Gómez finished the evening with four goals, and the 7-0 score line set the record for the biggest knockout stage victory in competition history.
2. Bayern Munich 7-0 Shakhtar Donetsk - Last 16 (2014/15)
Oh, look who's back yet again.
Similar to their thrashing of Basel, Bayern fell to a 0-0 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg, and their hatred of being humiliated took over in the second as they fired home seven unanswered goals.
Their cause was helped as Shakhtar's Oleksandr Kucher was sent off after just three minutes, after which Bayern went off on one. Again.
1. Manchester City 7-0 Schalke - Last 16 (2018/19)
Schalke took Manchester City to the limit in the first leg of their last 16 tie and came within five minutes of snatching a 2-1 win, only to fall 3-2 in the end. The second leg promised to be a great game.
Well, any hopes of a competitive affair were gone by half time as City flew into a 3-0 lead, and four more goals after the break saw City equal the all-time record for largest margin of victory.
Leroy Sané stole the show with a thunderous goal and a hat-trick of assists, with Sergio Agüero, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus all getting in on the fun too.
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