Champions League 2020/2021 edition in interesting numbers and facts

This year’s edition of the Champions League is already history. The final match between Chelsea and Manchester City ended another edition of the most prestigious club competition, which once again brought an interesting spectacle. The players provided a huge number of interesting moments, goals and situations that changed the historical tables. Let’s take a look at some of them together.

#1 When Paris Saint-Germain knocked out Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, it was the first time in Champions League history that the finalists from last season ran into each other and the team that was unsuccessful in the final eliminated the reigning winner in the knockout stage.

#2 Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel became the seventh and eighth coaches to reach the Champions League final with two different teams. The Spaniard coached Barcelona and Manchester City in the final matches, while Tuchel led PSG and Chelsea in the final. Ottmar Hitzfeld, Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Jupp Heynckes, Carlo Ancelotti and Jürgen Klopp have also done it before them.

#3 For three consecutive seasons, a German coach has been on the bench of a winning team. Thomas Tuchel built on the success of his compatriots Hansi Flick and Jürgen Klopp.

#4 Another fact is also related to German coaches. For the first time in the history of the Champions League, four managers from the same country (Germany) reached the quarter-finals in the same season. Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool), Tuchel (Chelsea), Edin Terzic (Dortmund) and Hansi Flick (Bayern) made this history.

#5 Liverpool’s 5-0 win at Atalanta was the highest ever by an English club on Italian soil in European competition.

#6 Ronald Koeman of Barcelona became the fifth coach to lead at least six teams in the Champions League. Before him, Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benítez (all 6 teams) have also done it. Carlo Ancelotti has led as many as eight clubs.

#8 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reached his eighth semi-final in Europe’s top competition, the most in its history alongside Mourinho.

#9 Nine different English clubs have now played in the Champions League final. No other country has had so many representatives in the final. Germany and Italy are the closest with 6 clubs.

#10 The top scorer of the 2020/2021 edition is Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund. He managed to score ten goals in eight matches.

#11 And once again, Manchester City are in the lead. With 11 wins this season, the Citizens have equalled the record of Real Madrid (2013/14), Barcelona (2014/15) and Bayern Munich (2019/20) for the most wins in a single season since the current format was introduced.

#13 Barcelona have appeared in 13 consecutive UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, a record for the competition. It has also won its group for 13 consecutive seasons. There is another record associated with the number 13, but in this case a negative one. French team Olympique Marseille have recorded 13 consecutive losses.

#15 Bayern Munich set a new record for most wins in a row. He managed to win 15 of them, including the final match in 2020 against PSG.

at the age of 16 years and 18 days,#16 Youssoufa Moukoko of Dortmund became the youngest player ever to play in the UEFA Champions League.

at the age of 17 years and 113 days,#17 Jude Bellingham became the youngest English player ever to play in the UEFA Champions League. He overtook Phil Foden (17 years, 192 days).

#20 Erling Haaland (20 years, 231 days) became the youngest ever player to score 20 goals in the Champions League, breaking Kylian Mbappe’s (21 years, 355 days) record. He needed 14 games to achieve this feat, ten fewer than the previous record holder Harry Kane.

#20 Neymar became the first player in European Cup/Champions League history to score 20 goals for two different teams (Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain).

#25 In the eighth-final match against Barcelona, PSG’s Mbappé (22 years, 80 days) became the youngest player to score 25 goals, breaking Messi’s record (22 years, 286 days).

#27 Marcus Rashford became the fifth player in the competition’s history to score a hat-trick as a substitute. He did it in United’s home game against Leipzig. His 27 minutes on the pitch were the fewest of any of the five players to achieve this feat.

#30 In the history of the competition, Real Madrid have reached the semi-finals 30 times. This is the most of any team.

at the age of 34 years and 63 days,#34 Olivier Giroud became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League.

#38 Joshua Kimmich of Bayern won 38 of his first 50 Champions League matches, the highest number of victories in the competition’s history.

#42 Manchester City became the 42nd club to reach the final of the millionaire competition.

#48 In the history of the European Cup/Champions League, there have been 48 occasions when English teams have won their first match on their opponents’ pitch in the knockout stages. In all cases these teams have progressed.

#73 Robert Lewandowski has scored 73 goals in the most prestigious club competition this season. He overtook Raúl González to become the third highest scorer in the history of the competition behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

#75 Mircea Lucescu of Dynamo Kiev became the oldest manager ever to lead his team in the Champions League. He was 75 years and 83 days old on the day of the match.

#133 Irfan Can Kahveci’s hat-trick against Leipzig was his 133rd in the competition, but only the third time a goalscorer has finished on the losing side. Interestingly, all three goals came from outside the sixteen. The last time Wayne Rooney managed such a feat was in 2004 in United’s match against Fenerbahce.

#750 Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 750th career goal at club and international level. He reached this milestone in a match against Dynamo Kiev.

Source: UEFA, Transfermarkt