When Deportivo La Coruna and Monaco met at the Estadio Riazor on matchday three of the 2003-04 Champions League, it was a largely uninspiring 1-0 victory for the hosting Spaniards.
Ahead of the return meeting, which was played at the Stade Louis II 11 years ago today, another cagey encounter was anticipated, largely because along with PSV Eindhoven, the two sides were battling for qualification to the knockout stages of the competition.
However, what occurred in the principality that evening made Champions League history.
Within the opening half-hour, the home team were four goals to the good courtesy of strikes from Jerome Rothen and Ludovic Giuly, as well as a brace scored by birthday boy Dado Prso.
Deportivo responded quickly through Diego Tristan and Lionel Scaloni, but Monaco opened up a 5-2 lead in first-half stoppage time as Prso completed his hat-trick when he rolled the ball into an unguarded net.
The scoring continued at a rapid rate after the restart, with Monaco's Jaroslav Plasil and Prso scoring in the 47th and 49th minute respectively to make it 7-2 in favour of the Ligue 1 outfit. In scoring his fourth goal, Prso became only the third player after Marco van Basten and Simone Inzaghi to achieve that feat in the tournament's history.
Tristan reduced the arrears with 53 minutes played, but the scoring was completed by Edouard Cisse, who was on loan with Monaco from rivals Paris Saint-Germain.
When the final whistle was blown, it brought the curtain down on an 11-goal match, which remains a Champions League record.
"It's difficult to grasp. It's an extraordinary moment to beat a side like Deportivo 8-3 in the Champions League. Unthinkable," Prso told reporters.
"This feels great. The coach said before the game he'd give me a birthday present. It couldn't be better. I've scored hat-tricks in training matches but I've never scored four in a game before."
MONACO: Roma; Evra (Ibarra), Squillaci, Rodriguez, Givet; Plasil (Zikos), Bernardi, Cisse, Rothen, Guily; Prso (Adebayor)
DEPORTIVO: Molina (Munua); Pablo (Munitis), Romero, Naybet, Andrade; Silva, Sergio (Pandiani), Amavisca, Scaloni, Valeron; Tristan
Liam Apicella
