The inaugural League Phase has seen all kinds of drama football has to offer in the first two match weeks of Champions League 2024-25. The most eye-catching part has been the high margin of wins recorded in certain games with quality between the sides being too disequilibrium in this matter played in the single league format. Those matches have seen some of the competition’s unbreakable records shattered and flabbergasting goal counts. The crowd has come to the winning team’s aid as all of these victories have been claimed by the home side giving the visitors nightmares of their forgetful defeats. We pick out some of the biggest wins recorded in the League Phase of the Champions League 2024-25 season.
Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava - Celtic Park, Glasgow (Matchweek 1)
One of the highest winning margins in match week 1 of the Champions League 2024-25 League Phase was Celtic thrashing Slovenian side Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in Celtic Park on their return to the competition. Brendan Rodgers’s side put up a stunning display with five separate players netting the goals. For the first time since 1973, Celtic managed to achieve the feat. The star of the show was 21-year-old Belgian Arne Engels who assisted Liam Scales’s opener in the 17th minute and converted his spot-kick in the second half, becoming the second player after club legend Henrik Larsson to do so on his Champions League debut. Japanese stars Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda also shined with a goal each while substitute Adam Idah put the icing on the cake later. However, the Hoops failed to keep a clean sheet in this overly dominating win after Kevin Wimmer scored a consolation for the Champions League debutants.
Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys - Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona (Matchweek 2)
After suffering a disappointing 2-1 loss to Monaco in their League Phase opener and also suffering a 4-2 loss to Osasuna that ended their winning start to La Liga, Barcelona returned to winning ways in style with a 5-0 thumping of visitors Young Boys at Olímpic Lluís Companys. The victory was capped off by a brace from Robert Lewandowski who began the scoring in the eighth minute and got his second five minutes after the break with Raphinha and center-back Inigo Martinez already into the scoresheet. Later on, Mohamed Camara bundled the ball into his own net to complete the routing. Lewandowski hit a new record for the highest goal-scoring average in European competition going level with club legend Lionel Messi. The Polish goal machine also netted his 51st goal in the Champions League after turning 30, becoming just the second player to achieve the feat after a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dortmund 7-1 Celtic - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund (Matchweek 2)
Celtic got the taste of their own medicine this time when they faced a drubbing on their trip to Germany to face last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund in their second Champions League game this season. Nuri Sahin’s side secured a 3-0 opening match win against Club Brugge and added four more goals in their first home match this season in the competition. The Black and Yellow wasted no time to get into the scoresheet in front of the 80,000-strong home support with Emre Can scoring from the spot in the seventh minute. The visitors levelled the scoreline through Maeda just two minutes later but were not ready for the storm next. Karim Adeyemi took matters into his own hands, or legs rather, to complete a stunning first-half hattrick and become the second German player after Mario Gomez to score three goals in the first half of a Champions League match. Serhou Guirassy also scored in each half before substitute Felix Nmecha added a seventh.
Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb - Allianz Arena, Munich (Matchweek 1)
However, one win that elapsed everything else was Dortmund’s rivals Bayern Munich hammering Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 at home in the second-most highest scoring game in Champions League history. It was also the first time that a side has scored nine goals in a single match in the competition. Star striker Harry Kane produced a four-goal haul to make him the highest-scoring Englishman in Europe’s premier club competition suppressing Wayne Rooney with three of those coming from spot kicks, also a record. Despite the Croatian pulling the scores to 3-2 with back-to-back strikes within a minute following half-time, the home side did not falter and thwarted all chances of a comeback by pumping more goals. Raphael Guerreiro and Michael Olise already claimed their strikes in the first half with substitute Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka getting on the act late in the match.
