The UEFA Champions League unites football lovers from across the globe. Arguably the most looked-upon fiesta provides lovers of the game with a perfect midweek getaway.
UEFA Champions League hosts the best of teams within Europe. While they battle it out for the most coveted trophy at club level, the spectators get treated to high-quality matches that provide a lot of intensity, novelty and excitement.
The initial stages of this continental competition see smaller teams (mostly from outside Europe's top-five leagues) pitted against some of the heavyweights. As the competition progresses, we are only left with giants who lock horns with each other.
Over the course of years, we have seen bigger sides run goal riots against smaller teams. However, there have also been many instances where it rained goals during a clash between the two juggernauts.
We witnessed a total of nine goals just last week when Manchester City faced RB Leipzig. The same brings us to the topic of the day:
Top five UEFA Champions League games that saw the most number of goals being scored.
#5 Lyon (7-2) Werder Bremen — 2004/05 | Round of 16 | Second Leg
The 2004-05 Champions League season was a special one. Liverpool's spectacular victory, lauded as one of the best comebacks in the history of the sport, took place that very season.
However, there is another fixture that caught everyone's attention. We are talking about the Round of 16 clash between Lyon and Werder Bremen. The Ligue 1 side thrashed their German opponents with an aggregate score of 10-2. But it was the second leg of the tie that saw a goal riot.
Lyon hosted Bremen while already having a three-goal (away) advantage. Brimming with confidence, the French team mercilessly shot seven more past Bremen's goalline. Hattrick hero Wiltord stood out alongside Michael Essien who secured a brace.
#4 Tottenham Hotspur (2-7) Bayern Munich — 2019/20 | Group Stage
Losing a game is one thing but losing at home is far worse. That too, by this margin, hurts the most. Tottenham Hotspur had to endure one such pain back in October 2019 while they were hosting Bayern Munich.
From being runners-up in the previous edition of the Champions League, to the shocking season that followed, Spurs and their fans are still haunted by the embarrassment faced at the hands of the eventual champions.
Despite finding an early lead via Son Heung-min, the north London outfit conceded seven in return. Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry's quadruple was the showstopper that evening. A fine performance from the Bavarians was also topped by Lewandowski's brace.
#3 Barcelona (2-8) Bayern Munich — 2019/20 | Quarterfinals
On their course towards grabbing the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League trophy, Bayern Munich left no stone unturned. They thrashed every other side that stood in their path and unfortunately for Barcelona, they too got a taste of Bayern's thrashing.
Bayern Munich were raining goals throughout the tournament. They topped Group B with a perfect record and scored 24 goals off six games. In the Round of 16, the Bavarians thrashed Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate.
The German then faced Barcelona in the quarterfinals that was set to be played over just one leg due to the pandemic. The match was played at a neutral venue and Bayern opened the scoring via Muller in the fourth minute itself.
Barcelona replied just three minutes later via a David Alaba own-goal. From there on, it was just Bayern Munich's game. The German team scored seven more before the full-time whistle while Barcelona managed just one more.
Thomas Muller and loanee Coutinho (whose parent club was Barcelona back then) secured a brace. Perisic, Gnabry, Kimmich and Lewondowski contributed towards the other goals.
#2 Monaco (8-3) RC Deportivo — 2003/04 | Group Stage
The 2003-04 UEFA Champions League season was a fine one for both Monaco and Deportivo La Coruña. While Monaco went on to secure a berth in the final, Deportivo missed out on the same after a narrow loss against eventual champions Porto in the semis.
An intense match involving these two sides happened in the Group Stage clash the same season. Monaco tasted defeated in their trip to Spain. However, little did the La Liga side know what was waiting for them in the return leg.
Monaco started off with full determination and found a couple of goals early into the game. Though Deportivo managed to score three goals, it got lost against Monaco's eight. Croatian forward Dado Pršo remained the center of the attraction from that evening with his four goals.
#1 Dortmund (8-4) Warsaw — 2016/17 | Group Stage
Borussia Dortmund and Legia Warsaw's group F clash saw a total of 18 goals scored across both legs. While the Bundesliga outfit scored a massive six goals away from home, they went a little further to score eight in their own backyard.
A reverse fixture that saw 12 goals in total was a busy evening for the goalkeepers. Even though the Polish team lost in a thumping fashion, they were successful in finding the net four times.
Kagawa (Dortmund), Reus (Dortmund) and Prijović (Warsaw) scored braces in the evening. Borussia Dortmund topped the group that also had eventual champions Real Madrid.