Longest Unbeaten Runs in Champions League History

Founded in 1955 as the European Cup, the Champions League is Europe's, and the world's, premier club football competition.

The Champions League has been largely dominated by Real Madrid, who boast a whopping 15 titles to their name. Los Blancos won the first five editions of the competition and six of the last eleven, including last season's.

Real Madrid's dominance makes Spain the most decorated country in the competition's history with 20 titles overall, with Barcelona also having five titles to their name. England is in 2nd place with 15 titles, but those titles are spread out through many more clubs, with Liverpool boasting six titles, Manchester United with three, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest with two and Manchester City and Aston Villa both with one. No country has produced more winners of the competition than England.

Cristiano Ronaldo has the most goals in the competition's history with 140, while Lionel Messi is 2nd with 129. However, Ronaldo has also made the most appearances in the history of the competition (183), meaning Messi has the best goals-to-game ratio in Champions League history (0.79 goals per game).

No player has won the competition more than six times, and the only players to win that number of trophies all did so playing for Real Madrid: Paco Gento, Luka Modrić, Nacho, Dani Carvajal and Toni Kroos.

Only one player has won the competition with more than two different clubs, and that man is Clarence Seedorf, who won the trophy with Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998) and AC Milan (2003, 2007).

This competition has seen some outrageously good teams, many in very recent memory, and several of those teams have put together some impressive unbeaten runs. Here, we're going to briefly dive into some of the competition's most impervious outfits.

5. Barcelona, 16 (2011-2012)

Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side which spanned the years 2008-2012 is still widely regarded as the best club side in the sport's history. Containing some of the best players of the modern era - the likes of Xavi Hernández, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi - Barcelona won the Champions League in both 2009 and 2011, beating Manchester United in the final on both occasions.

In the 2010-2011 season, Barcelona went unbeaten in their final six games of the competition after losing the first leg of their round of 16 tie against Arsenal, before ultimately claiming the trophy. In the following season, Barcelona remained unbeaten for the first ten games of their Champions League campaign before losing the first leg of their semi-final at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in a tie they lost 3-2 on aggregate, ending what was a 16-match unbeaten run.

4. Bayern Munich, 19 (2001-2002 & 2019-2021)

Bayern Munich are one of the competition's greatest clubs, so it's no surprise to see them appear high on this list. Not once, but twice have they put together a hugely impressive 19-match unbeaten run. Bayern won the competition in the 2000-01 season under manager Ottmar Hitzfeld with players like Oliver Khan, Hasan Salihamidžić and Giovane Élber, going unbeaten in their final six games in the competition.

This Bayern team had a slight advantage here as the competition then contained two group phases and therefore more games, with Bayern going unbeaten in their first 13 games of the 2001-02 campaign before losing 3-2 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

A team many readers will be much more familiar with, Bayern won the famous Covid Champions League in 2020 under Hansi Flick, with players like Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski. Bayern won all 11 games they played in the competition that season and their unbeaten run could have been extended if the quarter-final and semi-final games were not played over only one leg that year. The following season Bayern won their first 8 games before losing 2-3 to PSG in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.

3. Ajax, 19 (1994-1996)

Ajax were once one of Europe's most feared clubs back when European football was more financially equitable, and at no other time was that more true than in the mid-90s. With the likes of Edwin van der Sar, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert, Ajax were a team full of homegrown academy players but were brimming with youthful quality.

Under manager Louis van Gaal, Ajax won the competition in 1994-95 without losing a single game, before going unbeaten all the way until the first leg of the semi-finals the following season where they lost 1-0 to Greek side Panathinaikos, a tie they ultimately won 3-1 on aggregate. Ajax were then beaten by Juventus on penalties in the final.

2. Manchester City, 22 (2022-2024)

Manchester City finally won their long-awaited Champions League title under Pep Guardiola back in 2023 and they did so in formidable fashion. City went unbeaten in all 13 games of the 2022-23 campaign that saw them eventually beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the final, and they went some way to trying to repeat those heroics the following season.

Last season, City went unbeaten in the Champions League all the way to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten on penalties by Real Madrid in the second leg following two draws (3-3 and 1-1). City still haven't lost in either normal or extra-time since the semi-final of the 2021-22 season where they were beaten by Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in the second leg, highlighting just how strong they are in this competition.

1. Manchester United, 25 (2007-2009)

How Manchester United fans long for these days to return. At the back end of the Alex Ferguson era, Manchester United peaked in the Champions League. Winners in 2008, United reached three finals in four seasons between 2007-08 and 2010-11 and if they didn't have to compete against the greatest team in football history their trophy cabinet could be even larger.

United won the Champions League in 2007-08, beating Chelsea in the final, with a squad of players such as Edwin van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, and they did so without losing a single game. United followed that campaign up with another outstanding run where they reached the final without losing a game, only to fall 2-0 to Barcelona in the final. A 25-match unbeaten run in the most intense competition in world football is a fine effort indeed, and one that won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Not many teams win Champions League titles without losing a game throughout the entire campaign, but Real Madrid became another side to do just that last season. Thirteen games without defeat, Madrid need to avoid defeat in their first three group games this season to equal Barcelona's run of 16 unbeaten. You'd back them to do that, and probably even beat that. Will they catch Manchester United's record of 25, though? It'll take some doing.

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