Played 6, Won 6, Drawn 0, Lost 0 and maximum points. Which teams have managed to do that?This season's UEFA Champions League has reached the halfway mark of the group stages and there is only one side that has won all their matches. No, it isn't Real Madrid or Barcelona and certainly not Chelsea or Manchester City. That honour goes to Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg who sit atop group H with a 100% record.This list takes a look at those teams who over the years started their campaigns in roaring fashion over the years – specifically the teams who have navigated through the group stages of the Champions League with 100% records.There have been six sides who have gone on to win the Champions League unbeaten. However, none of the teams have won the title with a 100% record in the group stages.
#1 AC Milan - 1992/93
The first club to win all their matches in the UEFA Champions League group stages was AC Milan. The Rossoneri achieved this feat in the 1992/93 Champions League season.
The tournament proper that season had just two groups of four teams each and the group winners would meet each other in the final. The Milan side featuring Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Jean-Pierre Papin would run riot through their group, scoring 11 goals and conceding just one.
The side coached by Fabio Capello began in dominating fashion at the San Siro, crushing IFK Goteburg 4-0. Brazilian legend Romario became the only man to breach Sebastiano Rossi’s goal when he poached home a consolation in Eindhoven as PSV suffered a 2-1 defeat next. Porto were beaten twice by single goal margins and the Italians rounded off their group stage adventure by beating PSV and Goteburg once more.
However, the Italian Serie A champions lost the final against an equally strong Olympique Marseille side featuring Rudi Voller and Didier Deschamps with an unlikely goal from centre-back Basile Boli. The result might not have been much of a shock as the French side were also unbeaten during the group stages, but they had drawn three of their matches compared to Milan’s all win record.
Milan would go on to win the Champions League the very next season, thrashing Barcelona 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens where as Marseille would be found guilty of match fixing in the French league and would consequently be relegated to Ligue 2 and banned from Europe.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A.C.Milan | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 12 |
IFK Goteborg | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 6 |
Porto | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 1 |
#2 Paris Saint-Germain - 1994/95
PSG would become the second team to own a 100% record in the group stages by virtue of their run in the 1994/95 competition. Spearheaded by George Weah, the Parisians dominated a group featuring Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Kiev and European powerhouses Bayern Munich.
The Bavarians would fail to score a goal against PSG in both their matches and the French side would score 12 goals in their six matches. Weah’s side became strong favourites for the title and the belief was solidified when Barcelona were beaten 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.
But the wheels would break in the semi-finals against defending champions Milan. An injury time goal by Zvonimir Boban gave the Italians a shock win at the Parc des Princes before a Dejan Savicevic goal finished off the French side in the return leg at the San Siro.
Milan would go on to lose the final against Ajax Amsterdam courtesy of a single goal from a young Patrick Kluivert.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSG | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 12 |
Bayern Munich | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 6 |
Spartak Moscow | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 4 |
Dynamo Kiev | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 2 |
#3 Spartak Moscow - 1995/96
The most surprising side in this list, Spartak Moscow achieved the feat in a surprising 1995-96 campaign. Nicknamed Myaso (The Meat) and Svinyi (Swines), Spartak absolutely dominated their group which also featured reigning English champions Blackburn Rovers.
A Sergei Yuran goal finished off Rovers at Ewood Park and the Russians did the double over Legia Warsaw and Rosenborg while thrashing Alan Shearer’s Blackburn 3-0 at the Luzhniki stadium. The Spartachi side would score 15 times during the group stages and go on to face Nantes in the quarter-finals.
The French side, who were humbled by Panathinaikos 3-1 at Athens, weren’t expected to stand much of a chance against the rampant Red-Whites. But Spartak had no clue as to what hit them as the French champions carved out a 2-0 victory in the first leg at the Stade de la Beaujoire. The Russians would even the score in the first half of the second leg, but Nantes would score two second-half goals to tie the game and win 4-2 on aggregate.
Spartak would start a domestic title run that season which would see them retain their Russian championship for five successive years.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spartak Moscow | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 18 |
Legia Warsaw | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 7 |
Rosenborg | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 16 | -5 | 6 |
Blackburn Rovers | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 4 |
#4 Barcelona - 2002/03
The 2002/03 Champions League season had two group stages and Barcelona would win all six of their matches in the first stage. A strong Barcelona side featuring Patrick Kluivert, Javier Saviola and current manager Luis Enrique squeezed past Club Brugge 3-2 in their opener and would despatch off Lokomotiv Moscow and Galatasaray as well. All three sides would bite the dust in the return legs too as the Catalans marched on to the second group stage with a 100% record.
The Catalan club would come close to repeating this feat in the second stage as well as they notched up 5 wins out of 6 in a tough group featuring Newcastle, Bayer Leverkusen and Internazionale. However, a stalemate against the Italians following a 3-0 drubbing of the same side at the Camp Nou would see Barca drop two points.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barcelona | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 18 |
Lokomotiv Moscow | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 7 |
Club Brugge | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 |
Galatasaray | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 4 |
#5 Real Madrid - 2011/12 and 2014/15
It is not really surprising that the most successful club in Europe has had not one, but two 100% records in the Champions League group stages. However, as the trend goes, none of those campaigns resulted in silverware for Real Madrid.
The first was the 2011/12 season when Los Blancos dominated a group featuring Lyon, Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb – scoring 19 goals and finishing a massive 10 points clear of second placed Lyon in the group. Real's all-win record would be tainted by a draw with CSKA Moscow in the first leg of the second round, but the Spaniards would shift into another gear, eliminating the Russians 5-2 on aggregate and routing Apoel Nicosia 8-2 home and away in the quarter-finals.
However, they would run into Bayern Munich in the semi-finals and would be eliminated in a penalty shootout after both legs ended in a 2-1 victories for the home teams.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Real Madrid | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | +17 | 18 |
Lyon | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 8 |
Ajax Amsterdam | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 22 | -19 | 0 |
Real were defending champions in the 2014/15 edition and they started their campaign in roaring fashion, collecting maximum points from a group featuring Liverpool, Basel and Ludogorets. Second-placed Basel collected just 7 points compared to Real's 18 as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale ran riot once again.
Schalke would crack Real's armour first, beating the Madrid club 4-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu before exiting the tournament on aggregate scores. Real would draw with Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their successful quarter-final campaign as well.
But the defending champions’ hold on the trophy would come to an end in the semi-finals against a resolute Juventus side, who would beat them 2-1 in the Juventus Stadium and hold on for a 1-1 draw in Madrid.
Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Real Madrid | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | +14 | 18 |
Basel | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 7 |
Liverpool | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 5 |
Ludogorets | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 | -9 | 4 |