Starting from this matchday (the third of the Group Stage), I will write here some statistical data about the Champions League. When the data is historical, it includes also the "old" European Cup. On this matchday, 59 goals were scored in 16 matches, with an average of 3,69 goals per game. This is the second highest number of goals scored in a CL Group Stage round; the current record resists since 2000-2001 season, when 63 total goals (average of 3,93) were scored in the first matchday of the first Group Stage (12-13 September 2000). Furthermore, Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk scored 7 goals each, and this is only the second time that two teams scored at least 7 goals in the same matchday of such an advanced round. The other circumstance was the second leg of the round of 16 in the 2011-2012 season, when Barcelona beat Bayer Leverkusen 7-0, and Bayern Munich beat Basel 7-0. It happened 11 other times that two or more teams scored at least 7 goals in the same matchday, but it was always in one of the starting rounds of the competition.
Matchday 4 of the Group Stage (4-5 November 2014). 50 goals were scored, 9 less than the 3rd matchday but still a greater amount than the average (43,2) of the goals scored in the Group Stage matchdays since when 32 teams take part in this round (1999-2000 season). Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) won 5-0 against BATE Borisov (Belarus), after having won 7-0 against them in the 3rd matchday. For the first time in the history of the Champions League's Group Stage, a team won two games against the same opponent with an aggregate difference of 12 goals. This result also equals the absolute record for the Champions League, already reached by MFK Kosice (first qualifying round in 1998-1999) and FC Copenhagen (second qualifying round in 2009-2010). The previous record in such an advanced round, 11 goals, was set in 2008-2009 by Bayern Munich, who won 7-1 and 5-0 against Sporting Lisbon in the round of 16. Considering also the European Cup, the absolute record is an 18-goal difference in the preliminary round of 1965-1966 season, when Benfica beat Stade Dudelange 8-0 and 10-0. The match between Shakhtar Donetsk and BATE Borisov was the 6th in the history of the Champions League between teams of Ukraine and Belarus. Belarusian clubs never won: the balance sheet sees 5 wins for Ukrainian teams, 1 draw, 23 goals scored by Ukrainian teams and 4 scored by Belarusian ones.
The 5th matchday didn't have great numbers, with only 45 goals scored (not so low but not very high). Real Madrid is the only team to have scored maximum points, while 4 teams never won yet: Galatasaray, Ajax, APOEL and Maribor. 10 teams already qualified for the round of 16: 3 Spanish, 3 German, 2 English, 1 French and 1 Portuguese. The leading scorer is Luiz Adriano of Shakhtar Donetsk, with 9 goals (3 penalties). He scored 8 goals in 2 matches against Bate Borisov. Three countries confirmed their negative tradition against other countries: Belarusian and Slovenian teams never won against Portuguese ones, and Bulgarian never won against English. Porto defeated Bate Borisov, and now the balance Portugal-Belarus (4 matches) is 4 wins, 13 goals scored and 1 conceded; Sporting CP defeated Maribor, bringing the balance Portugal-Slovenia (4 matches) to 2 wins, 2 draws, 10 goals scored and 4 conceded. The draw between Liverpool and Ludogorets brings the comparison England-Bulgaria (7 matches) to 5 wins, 2 draws, with 13 goals scored and 5 conceded.
In the last matchday 43 goals were scored. The leading scorer is still Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar Donetsk) with 9, but Messi is now at 8. For the fourth time in the history of CL Group Stage, at least 4 teams scored 4 goals each: Ajax, Arsenal, Oympiacos, Real Madrid. It happened also in 1994-1995 (but only in 8 matches, not 16 as now), in 1999-2000 (when 5 teams scored 4 goals), in 2000-2001 (Hamburger and Juventus scored 4 goals in the same match, ended 4-4) and in 2006-2007. The record for this kind of statistic dates at the third matchday of the current season, when 2 teams scored 4 goals, 1 team scored 5, 1 team scored 6 and 2 teams scored 7 goals each. The distribution of the qualified clubs is as follows: Germany 4 England, Spain 3 France 2 Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine 1 Switzerland has again a representative in the Round of 16 after 3 years, while Ukraine and Portugal after 2 (always FC Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto respectively). Last year their place was "taken" by Zenit (Russia), Olympiacos (Greece) and Galatasaray (Turkey).
In the round of 16 there will be 3 unprecedented matches: Shakhtar Donetsk-Bayern Munich, Arsenal-Monaco and Basel-Porto. Three matches were played only once in the past. Two of them were played last year in the same round: Manchester City - Barcelona (Barcelona won 2-0 in Manchester and 2-1 at home) and Schalke 04 - Real Madrid (Real dominated 6-1 and 3-1). Also Bayer Leverkusen - Atlético Madrid was played just once, in 2010-2011 Group Stage: both matches ended 1-1. Paris SG and Chelsea played against each other twice, in 2004-2005 and 2013-2014. The total balance sees 2 wins for Chelsea, 1 for PSG and a draw. Last year they played the quarter-final: Chelsea lost 1-3 in Paris and then won 2-0 at home, managing to go through. Juventus and Borussia Dortmund confronted each other 4 times, with a total of 7 matches played: the balance is in favour of Juventus, with 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. However, Borussia won 3-1 the most important one: the CL final in 1996-1997; this is also the last match played between these two clubs.
For the third time, Bayern Munich scored 7 goals in the 2nd leg of the Champions League's Round of 16: it happened twice in recent years, the first time in 2008-2009 against Sporting Lisbon (1st leg 5-0 and 2nd leg 7-1), and the second time in 2011-2012 against FC Basel (they lost the first leg 0-1, and then won 7-0 in Munich). That was also the last time when a team scored at least 7 goals in a Champions League match, considering only the rounds from the Round of 16 onwards. Barcelona also won 7-1 against Bayer Leverkusen in the same round of 2011-2012 season, but this happened the week before Bayern Munich's match against FC Basel. Chelsea is out of the Champions League without losing a single match: 4 wins and 4 draws. For the third time, a Madrid derby will be played in the Champions League/European Cup: the first time was a semifinal in 1959, when Real Madrid won the playoff 2-1 (the two legs ended 2-1 and 0-1, and there was no extra-time), and the second was last year's final, when Real Madrid won 4-1 after extra-time. This is the list of the teams who reached the quarter-finals, with the number of times that they already played this round in the Champions League/European Cup, and the year when they played the last time this round. Atletico Madrid: 6 times (last in 2014) Barcelona: 16 (2014) Bayern Munich: 25 (2014) Juventus: 15 (2013) Monaco: 3 (2004) Paris Saint-Germain: 3 (2014) Porto: 6 (2009) Real Madrid: 31 (2014)
Barcelona won the European Cup/Champions League for the 5th time (out of 8 finals). Juventus set the new negative record of lost finals: 6 out of 8. The top scorers of this season have been Neymar (Barcelona), Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), with 10 goals each. The all-time top scorers are Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 77 goals each (Ronaldo scored another goal in the qualification stage playing with Manchester United). For the 7th time, the final has been played between an Italian and a Spanish team. Italy won twice and Spain five times. This is the list: 1956-1957: Real Madrid-Fiorentina 2-0 1957-1958: Real Madrid-Milan 3-2 1963-1964: Internazionale-Real Madrid 3-1 1991-1992: Barcelona-Sampdoria 1-0 1993-1994: Milan-Barcelona 4-0 1997-1998: Real Madrid-Juventus 1-0 2014-2015: Barcelona-Juventus 3-1 For the 11th time (5th in a row), 2 Spanish teams reached the semi-finals of the European Cup/Champions League. In the last 5 years, Barcelona and Real Madrid always reached the semi-finals, excluding last season when Barcelona was "replaced" by Atletico Madrid. Since 2000-2001, only in the semi-finals of 2003-2004 and 2009-2010 there weren't 2 teams from the same football association. The record (3 teams) belongs to Spain (1999-2000), Italy (2002-2003) and England (2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009). Only in 2012-2013 there were 2 pairs of teams from 2 different football associations (Germany and Spain). This is the complete list: 1958-1959: Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid 1959-1960: Barcelona and Real Madrid 1999-2000: Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia 2000-2001: Real Madrid and Valencia 2001-2002: Barcelona and Real Madrid 2002-2003: Internazionale, Juventus and Milan 2004-2005: Chelsea and Liverpool 2005-2006: Barcelona and Villareal 2006-2007: Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United 2007-2008: Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United 2008-2009: Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United 2010-2011: Barcelona and Real Madrid 2011-2012: Barcelona and Real Madrid 2012-2013: Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Real Madrid 2013-2014: Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid 2014-2015: Barcelona and Real Madrid