December 24, 2024

UCL stats: Phil Foden joins Kylian Mbappe; unwanted first for Bayern Munich

Foden #Foden

PSG and Bayern Munich played out a superb quarterfinal tie, which the former edged on away goals after losing 0-1 at home (they had won 3-2 away). Manchester City huffed and puffed to what was eventually a comfortable win 4-2 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund (2-1 each leg). Real Madrid’s first-leg destruction of Liverpool allowed them to play out a goalless draw at Anfield. Chelsea’s commanding 2-0 win away against FC Porto allowed them to meander to a last-minute 0-1 loss in the designated home tie at Seville.

And so the semifinals are decided — PSG vs Manchester City, Real Madrid vs Chelsea. Before we get to them, though, here are the best stats from a fascinating round of quarterfinals:

1

Bayern Munich are the first Champions League defending champions to be knocked out of the competition by the previous season’s losing finalist. In the last five such matchups, the defending champions had advanced.

Frederic Scheidemann/Getty Images

2

Only two players aged younger than 21 have scored in both legs of a UCL quarterfinal tie. One is Kylian Mbappe, against Borussia Dortmund in 2016/17 (for AS Monaco). The second is Phil Foden, against the same opposition this season. Now the two will meet in the semifinals.

2

It didn’t help his team advance, but this is a quirky little stat nonetheless. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has scored more goals in his two UCL appearances against PSG (two) than he scored in his 10 games for them in the competition (one).

3

Bayern Munich are the third straight defending champions to fail to reach the semifinals. In 2019-20 and 2018-19, Liverpool and Real Madrid were knocked out in the round of 16 in 2019-20 and 2018-19, respectively.

2 Related

3

Real Madrid have faced Chelsea more often without winning than any other side in their entire history, failing to win in all three games against them (D1, L2). Their upcoming semifinal, though, will be their first ever UCL meeting.

8

Pep Guardiola has equalled Jose Mourinho’s record for most UCL semi final appearances (eight).

8

This will be Chelsea’s eighth UCL semifinal appearance, breaking a tie with Manchester United for the most by an English club.

14

Speaking of record semifinal appearances, this will be Real Madrid’s 14th UCL-era semifinal. No one in the history of the competition has had more (Barcelona and Bayern Munich are tied second on 12).

Real Madrid players celebrate after beating Liverpool in the Champions League. Getty Images

15

There have been 15 goals scored by teenagers this UCL season, the fourth-most in a single season in the competition’s history. Those 15 goals have been scored by 14 different teenagers, with Brugge’s Charles De Ketelaere being the only teenager with multiple goals.

16

In the UCL, Real Madrid have now won 16 of their 17 previous knockout round ties when winning the first leg by 2+ goals. The lone exception being the 2003-04 quarter-final against Monaco (4-2 first leg, 1-3 second leg), when the goals were scored by Sebastian Squillaci (x1), Ludovic Giuly (x2), and… Fernando Morientes (x2), who was on loan at Monaco from Real Madrid.

17 years, 289 days

Jude Bellingham is the second-youngest player to score in a UCL knockout game, after Bojan Krkic for Barcelona against Schalke in April 2008 (17 years, 217 days).

18

This will be the first time in 18 years that Real Madrid have advanced to the UCL semifinals without Cristiano Ronaldo. The last time they did so was against Juventus in 2002-03.

(Stats courtesy ESPN’s Stats & Information Group)

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