Football games within their own leagues typically are very evenly matched, even between teams at the top and the bottom of the table. It’s generally unusual to see more than 5 goals in a 90-minute game.

It’s also very rare for top flight teams to have long undefeated runs, with most teams usually ending a season with a handful of losses.

However, on occasion, football clubs manage to put in a dominant performance that stands out from the norms. Either a spot of good luck in a single game that results in a gargantuan score from a one sided game, or a herculean effort throughout an entire season that results in an unbeaten record.

Here are some of those most dominant performances in football.

Liverpool in the 2019/20 Season

Liverpool have not won the top flight league title in England since 1990, and came incredibly close to ending their drought in the 2018/19 season. However, they were beaten by Manchester City by a single point.

Liverpool started the 2019/20 season with their best start ever, going more than 12 months without a defeat and equalling Manchester City’s longest uninterrupted run of Premier League wins. They had also gone the entire season without a loss, drawing only once against Manchester United, until they were beaten by Watford, meaning they’ve won 27 of the 29 games they played this year. 

Germany 11 - 0 Argentina

In 2007, the German team began their Women’s World Cup campaign in Shanghai with an 11-0 victory. Three players achieved hat tricks: Sandra Smisek, Renate Lingor, and Birgit Prinz; an astonishing achievement. 

The goals were relentless, with the first goal being 12 minutes in, followed by 4 more in the first half. A 6th goal was scored 6 minutes into the second half, and the last 1 minute into stoppage time.

Germany went on to win the tournament, the first team to successfully defend a Women’s World Cup title.

Barcelona 6 - 2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid and Barcelona are two titans of Spanish football. Between them they share just about all the records for the most titles won in top flight competitions open to Spanish teams. When these two sides go head to head, it’s usually a fairly even game. 

However, in 2009, Barcelona won the La Liga title by beating Real Madrid in their own stadium in a dominant 6-2 performance. It was a truly dominant season, as the Catalan side also won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, helping Pep Guardiola make his mark in his first season as manager.

Barcelona 8 - 0 Almeria

A year later, Barcelona beat Almeria, a team in the second tier of Spanish football, by eight goals to nothing. Barcelona managed five goals in the first half, one of which was an own goal. It wasn’t just the score that was one sided.

Barcelona dominated possession, keeping hold of the ball for 75% of the game and having 6 times more shots on target than Almeria. Despite letting 8 goals in, Almeria’s keeper still managed to keep another six from getting past the line.

Manchester United 1992 - 2003

Sir Alex Ferguson joined Manchester United as manager in 1986 hadn’t won a title since the 1966/67 season. He turned this around by slowly building the most successful team in English football. 

Between 1992 and 2003, Manchester United won the Premier League title eight times, with only three seasons the Red Devils didn’t lift the trophy that season. United also won the Domestic double three times in that period.

They continued to win more titles well into the 2000s, and only in the second half of the 2010s did their performance begin to dwindle.

Manchester City - 2017/18 Season

In 2017/18, Manchester City broke a record in the Premier League. Winning 32 and drawing 4 of their 38 games, the Sky Blues won the league with 100 points. No team had previously finished a season with a triple figure points tally. 

The average winning points haul in the Premier League is 86.9 and no club has won the title without scoring at least 75 points. Their 100 points came just two years after one of the lowest tallies in history, when Leicester City won it with 81 points.

Rangers - The Most Titles Ever

Scottish football has been dominated for a long time by two teams: Rangers and Celtic. Between them, they’ve won more than 100 top flight Scottish titles. Of the two, Rangers has won the most, with a tally of 54 titles. 

This is despite the fact that the club was relegated in 2012 after entering administration, meaning Celtic have won every season since. At present, no other club in the world has won more domestic top flight league trophies than Rangers, with their record standing at 54.

Having made it back into the Scottish Premiership in 2016-17, having fought their way back up from the fourth tier of Scottish football, Rangers look set to add to this tally in the near future.

Brazil 4 - 0 USA

When it comes to women’s international football, the United States of America is one of the leading teams, having won the last two FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments. So in 2007, riding high on a streak of 51 matches without a loss, the USA went into the semi-finals of the World Cup feeling quite complacent. 

Brazil on the other hand was ready for a fight, and beat the Americans 4-0, and secured themselves a place in the final. This was the biggest loss the USA has suffered in a World Cup game.

Liverpool 10 - 0 Fulham

At the height of their dominance in English football, Liverpool were a force to be reckoned with. Demonstrated most strongly by their 10-0 victory over Fulham in the first leg of the second round in 1986 League Cup. 

Liverpool also won in the second leg, with a 3-2 victory, bringing it to 13-2 on aggregate. 10-0 stands as the single biggest margin of victory in the League Cup, a record that they share with West Ham who beat Bury by the same score three years earlier.

It's not often we see dominant performances like these, especially the ones that have been sustained over long periods of time. So when we do see them, they should be appreciated for the phenomenal skills and effort required to achieve them.