The UEFA Champions League was at its best with big clubs losing the plot while others maintained their impressive run in the latest gameweek.
Liverpool are on top of the table with four wins out of four, the latest being 4-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Manchester City lost their match against Sporting CP while Real Madrid suffered defeat against AC Milan.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan overcame the challenge against Arsenal and Barcelona put five past Crvena zvezda. Atletico Madrid beat PSG and there were victories for Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Celtic, Atalanta and Monaco in their respective matches.
ESPN’s By The Numbers brings you the best of the mid-week stats from the UCL:
2
Arne Slot became only the second Liverpool manager to win the opening four games of a single Champions League campaign after Jurgen Klopp.
3
Arsenal have lost three of their last six games in all competitions (W2 D1), which is as many as they did in their previous 32 matches.
6
Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres has the most goals and assists combined of any player in this season of UEFA Champions League — 5 goals and 1 assist.
He’s also only the second Swedish player to ever score a hat trick in the competition after Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
4
Manchester City’s 4-1 loss against Sporting was only the third time a team managed by Pep Guardiola has conceded four goals in a UEFA Champions League match.
Last two were Bayern Munich’s 4-0 loss against Real Madrid in April 2014 and Man City’s 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in October 2016.
The standings at the halfway point of the league phase ��#UCL pic.twitter.com/4jRHTj92uZ
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 6, 2024
26
Manchester City’s loss also snapped their 26-game unbeaten run in the competition, which was the longest in UCL history.
38
At 38, Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel became joint-oldest player to play in a UEFA Champions League match on his birthday along with David Seaman for Arsenal against Schalke in September 2001.
19 and 99
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski has scored his 19th goal this season (all competitions) in the match against Crvena Zvezda. He has scored the most number of goals in all competitions in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Lewandowksi also has 99 goals in UEFA Champions League. He’s just one goal away from joining Cristiano Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (129) as the only players to reach 100 goals in European Cup/Champions League history.
55
Barcelona has scored 55 goals in their first 16 games of a single season in all competitions for the first time in their history.
8
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has 8 goals in the last 10 UCL matches, which is the most in the tournament during the span. Harry Kane and Raphinha have scored 7 goals each.
2
Real Madrid have lost consecutive home games conceding at least three goals in each for the first time in all competitions since May 2009 under Juande Ramos — 2-6 vs Barcelona and 1-3 vs Mallorca.
Real Madrid’s next two UCL matches are away to Liverpool at Anfield and Atalanta in Bergamo ��
Madrid currently sit in 17th place on the new UCL table. pic.twitter.com/a4sZbbYEmQ
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 6, 2024
99
Luka Modric made his 99th start for Real Madrid in the Champions League, thus becoming the midfielder with the most starts for the club in European Cup/Champions League history after Toni Kroos’s 98.
2
Inter and Atalanta are the only two teams who haven’t conceded a goal in this season’s Champions League.
100%
Since he joined Inter in 2021, Hakan Calhanoglu has scored each of his 19 penalties taken in all competitions. 13 Borussia Dortmund are unbeaten in 13 consecutive Champions League home matches (Win 9, draw 4).
(Stats Courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)
