Football
Anirudh Menon 2y

UCL Stats: Benzema joins Ronaldo, Messi; Real Madrid's uneclipsed 31

What a round of Champions League knockout ties that was. Villarreal did what many thought impossible, earning a 1-1 draw away to Bayern Munich, thus winning their quarterfinal 2-1 on aggregate. Chelsea scored 3 and conceded 2 at the Santiago Bernabeu to lose their tie to Real Madrid 4-5 on aggregate.

Liverpool conceded 3 at Anfield, but also scored 3 to beat Benfica 6-4 on aggregate. There were no goals at the Metropolitano, but Atletico Madrid vs Manchester City was an edge-of-the-seat thriller, one that City won 1-0 on aggregate.

By The Numbers has the best stats from all the incredible action:

0

If you did see the matches, this would come as a bit of a surprise: Stefan Savic did not commit a single foul over both legs of Atletico Madrid's tie against Manchester City. Zero.

2

This will be Villarreal's second ever UEFA Champions League semifinal, after the 2005/06 campaign when they lost against Arsenal (1-0 on aggregate).

4

This will be Jurgen Klopp's fourth UCL semi as a coach, the joint-most any German manager has achieved (along with Jupp Heynckes and Ottmar Hitzfeld). In his first three semi-finals, Klopp progressed to the final each time.

4

A remarkable number. The goal against Chelsea was Karim Benzema's fourth headed goal in his last five games for Real Madrid (all comps). That's as many as he's scored in his previous 52 games for Madrid!

5

Benzema is in some form. He's now become just the fifth player to score 7+ goals in a single UCL season's knockout stages after Cristiano Ronaldo (3 times!), Lionel Messi, Sadio Mane and Neymar Jr.

5

Real Madrid have now advanced in all 5 UCL ties when they faced the reigning champion in the knockout stage. (97/98 SF Borussia Dortmund, 99/00 QF Manchester United, 01-02 QF Bayern Munich, 13-14 SF Bayern Munich, and now of course, Chelsea). The previous four times, they won the competition.

9

This will be Pep Guardiola's ninth UCL semifinal, the most of any manager in the history of the competition (four with Barcelona, three with Bayern and now two with City). Just behind him, on 8, are Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho.

13

Benzema has scored 13 career UCL goals vs English clubs. Only Lionel Messi (27) has more such goals.

31

European royalty: Real Madrid have reached the SF of the European Cup/Champions League for the 31st time, at least 11 more than any other side.

100

Their second leg vs Atletico was Man City's 100th game in the UCL. They've won 55 of those matches, the most by an English side in their first hundred. Only one side won more in their opening century of matches... Real Madrid (57).

(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)

^ Back to Top ^