The most embarrassing Champions League defeats for English clubs after Manchester United’s Como collapse
The most embarrassing Champions League defeats for English clubs after Manchester United’s Como collapse
Manchester United suffered a European embarrassment at Como in the Champions League this week.
The Italian outfit ran out 4-1 winners at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, as the dominant debutants piled more pressure on Michael Carrick’s men.
Following a humbling result, we’ve looked at some of the most embarrassingChampions League defeats suffered by Premier League sides.
Spartak Moscow 4-1 Arsenal – 2000/01 season
Arsenal often struggled when making the trip to Eastern Europe in their first Champions League campaigns.
The 2000/01 season saw Arsenal battered twice during trips to the region, losing to Shakhtar Donestk in the first group stage, before opening the second group stage with a big defeat in Moscow.
The Gunners opened the scoring inside two minutes, but struggled in the freezing conditions. Marcao’s double turned the game around, before further goals from Yegor Titov and Luis Robson saw Spartak stun the Premier League side.
Maccabi Haifa 3-0 Manchester United – 2002/03 season
Maccabi Haifa secured the most impressive result in their history after humbling a second-string Manchester United side in 2002/03.
Sir Alex Ferguson opted to rotate his team with group stage progress assured, though the side still featured big names in Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Diego Forlan.
Played in Cyprus due to UEFA’s ban on matches in Israel, Maccabi stunned their visitors. Yaniv Katan and Raimondas Zutautas each scored fine goals before future Premier League favourite Yakubu sealed success from the spot.
It took Maccabi another20 years to record their next Champions League win.
Arsenal 1-5 Bayern Munich – 2016/17 season
Arsenal’s gradual decline during Arsene Wenger’s latter years reached a nadir during a home humiliation by Bayern Munich in 2017.
The Gunners had been beaten 5-1 in Germany during the first leg, and an attempt to restore a semblance of respectability did not go as planned. Arsenal did lead through Theo Walcott, but Laurent Kosielny’s red card played its part in a collapse.
The Germans were ruthless to run out 10-2 winners on aggregate, the heaviest two-legged Champions League defeat that a Premier League side has ever suffered.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-7 Bayern Munich – 2019/20 season
Bayern Munich have made a habit of inflicting painful defeats on English opponents, particularly those who reside in North London.
The German champions ran riot atTottenham Hotspur during the 2019/20 season, scoring seven times against the previous season’s Champions League runners-up.
Ex-Arsenal man Serge Gnabry haunted his former rivals with four goals, as a shellshocked Spurs capitulated under the lights.
Bayern went on to be crowned European champions, with this an ominous early warning to their challengers.
Barcelona 7-2 Newcastle United – 2025/26 season
Newcastle were seconds from a first-leg win during their last-16 clash with Barcelona, as nostalgic memories of Faustino Asprilla’s downing of the same opponents swept around St James’.
The feeling was much, much different in the return.
The Magpies went toe-to-toe during a five-goal first half that ended with Barcelona one goal ahead, but the second-half saw the Spaniards storm through.
Four unanswered goals saw Eddie Howe’s side hit for seven.
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.