IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS AND STATS - UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE


Statistics on Champions’ League group stage round 3 (October 22)

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund 5-2

*Real Madrid have won a Champions League home game after conceding 2 goals for the second time, after September 2004 case against Roma (4-2). 

*Only one team in Champions League history managed to win a match by 3 goals difference after being 2 goals behind. That team is Real Madrid and they have already done it twice, also away vs Liverpool (5-2) on 21 February 2023 (with 2 goals from Vinicius).

*The curse of the leader continues: Bayern (leader after the first match-day) lost in the 2nd and Dortmund (leader after the second match-day) lost in the 3rd.

*Borussia Dortmund have never won a Champions League game against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu (2 draws, 6 losses): it’s the most one team has played at a single stadium without winning in the competition’s history (8 games).

*Vinícius Júnior has scored his 3rd hat-trick for Real Madrid in all competitions, his second in 2024 (after his hat-trick against Barcelona in the Supercopa) and his first in the Champions League. 

*Vinícius Júnior's hat-trick (PICTURE) was the 21st time a Brazilian player has scored 3+ goals in a Champions League match, the most by a nation in the tournament's history. 

Milan vs Club Brugge 3-1

*For the 1st time in the UCL history, a rival has scored a goal against Milan in their stadium while playing outnumbered (playing at home, there is a precedent: Anderlecht achieved it in 2012).

*Francesco Camarda is the youngest debutant (16 years 226 days) with Milan in Champions League, as well as the youngest Italian player to feature in the competition, surpassing Moise Kean's previous record (16 years 268 days). 

*Christian Pulisic became the first player to score a home Champions League goal for Milan from outside the box since Robinho in February 2012 (and he did it directly from a corner!)

*Pulisic goal is the 3rd “Olympic” goal in UCL in XXI century after those of:
Claudio López on 6 March 2001 for Lazio against Anderlecht,
Ángel di María on 12 December 2023 for Benfica vs RB Salzburg).

Monaco vs Crvena Zvezda 5-1

*It is already 10th result in the current UCL season with 4+ goals of difference. Last UCL (complete) season saw only 4 games with 4+ goal margin.

*Monaco scored 5 goals in a European match for the first time since 8 December 2004 (5-0 in the Champions League group stage against Deportivo La Coruna). 

*Monaco became the first French team apart from PSG to score 5 goals in a Champions League match since Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb on 7 December 2011 (who scored 7).

*Takumi Minamino is the 2nd Japanese player to score a UCL brace after Shinji Kagawa with Borussia Dortmund against Legia Warsaw on 22 November 2016.

*Breel Embolo has scored his first 4 goals in the Champions League with 4 different teams (1st with Basel, 2nd with Schalke, 3rd with Borussia Gladbach and 4th with Monaco), a feat without precedent in the history of the competition.

Girona vs Slovan Bratislava 2-0 

*It is the first international victory in the history of Girona. 

*Three Girona games in this UCL campaign saw already 3 missed penalties (Cristhian Stuani did it this time).

Paris St. Germain vs PSV Eindhoven 1-1

*PSG have scored just one goal from their last 107 shots in the Champions League.

*Achraf Hakimi ended a series of 94 shots without scoring a single goal for PSG players in Champions League. 

*PSG have never lost when Hakimi scored in official competition (12 wins, 3 draws). 

Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0

*Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in 3 consecutive Champions League games for the first time since November 2007 under Arsene Wenger. 
The Gunners have now conceded just 1 goal in their last 6 group stage matches.

Aston Villa vs Bologna 2-0

*Aston Villa are just 3rd team to have won their first 3 Champions League games without conceding, after Malaga (2012-13) and Leicester (2016-17).

Juventus vs Stuttgart 0-1

*Mattia Perin is just the 3rd Juventus goalkeeper to save a penalty in a Champions League match since 2003-04, after Wojciech Szczesny (vs Valencia in September 2018) and Gianluigi Buffon (vs Lyon in October 2016). 

Sturm Graz vs Sporting Lisbon 0-2

*Viktor Gyökeres has scored his already 43rd goal in all competitions in 2024 keeping a sovereign lead in the IFFHS annual contest for global goal-scorers (ahead of Wu Lei, 39).