Another intense UEFA Champions League mid-week has passed us by, and it's shaken up the table again. Manchester City lost (again!) and are in real danger of elimination, Real Madrid gritted out a big win to claw their way back. Barcelona persevered to win and go second, while AC Milan and Arsenal are on quite the roll right now, No one can seem to stop Liverpool from galloping along at the top (they are yet to drop a point) and Bayer Leverkusen are Bayer Levekusen-ing again. Oh, and Aston Villa have quite the super sub.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of the mid-week stats from the UCL:
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Kylian Mbappe has now scored 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League. At 25 years and 356 days old, the Real Madrid striker is the second youngest to score 50 career UCL goals after a certain Lionel Messi (24y, 284d).
Mbappe is also just the ninth player in UCL history to score 50 goals, and the 4th-fastest to the milestone (after Ruud van Nistelrooy, Messi, and Robert Lewandowski).
3+ in 5
Barcelona have scored 3+ goals in 5 straight UCL games for the first time since 2011-12 (also 5). You remember how good Barcelona were around that time, don't you?
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Pep Guardiola is now on a 3-game UCL winless streak, his longest ever in the UCL Group or League Phase.
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AC Milan have won four games in a row in the UCL for the first time since the period between February and April 2005 (five in that case). You remember how good AC Milan were around that time, don't you?
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We probably should start a Lamine Yamal watch section soon, eh? The Barcelona youngster now has 5 assists on counterattacks this season, two more than any other player from Europe's top 5 leagues in all competitions.
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Jhon Duran now has 6 goals coming off the bench this season in all competitions, the most among players from Europe's Top 5 Leagues.
9
With their late winner against Inter Milan, Bayer Leverkusen have now scored 9 game-winning goals in the 90th-minute or later since the start of last season, the most by any team in the Top 5 European Leagues.
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Raphinha has been involved in 12 goals in the UCL in 2024 (nine goals and three assists), the most for a player this year in the competition along with Vinícius Júnior (12 - 9 & 3 as well).
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Winter has come! Mohamed Salah has 13 goal contributions in 8 games played in all competitions since Nov 1. That is the most by any player from the top 5 European leagues.
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Thomas Muller scored his first UCL goal of the season and has now scored in 16 separate CL seasons (like Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo). Only Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema have scored in more separate seasons (18).
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This is quite the stat -- since the start of November, Manchester City have conceded more goals across all competitions than any other team from Europe's big five leagues (21 in nine games).
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Antoine Griezmann has now scored 36 goals in 79 appearances for Atletico Madrid in the UCL, all under Diego Simeone. Only Messi under Guardiola (43) and Salah under Jurgen Klopp (41) have scored more goals under the same manager in the competition.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)