IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - UEFA
Picture : Thibaut Courtois is the first goalkeeper to get past a Champions League quarter-final or semi-final tie without conceding a single goal, despite receiving so many shots on target (9), since Iker Casillas against Bayern in 2014.
Statistics on Champions’ League quarter-finals of 18 April
*Real Madrid became the first visiting team in the history of the Champions League to beat Chelsea twice at Stamford Bridge (3-1 on 6 April 2022 and 2-0 on 18 April 2023).
*Real Madrid have won 6th UCL knockout match in a row (all against English teams!). It’s their longest such series in the competition. Overall, only Barcelona have a longer winning streak in knockout stages (7 between 2014 and 2016).
*Real Madrid have reached the UCL semi-finals for the record 16th time; Bayern Munich and Barcelona are the next with 12 each.
Of last 13 seasons, Real Madrid came to semi-finals 11 times.
*Chelsea have lost 4 games in a row in all competitions: their worst losing series in almost 30 years (since November 1993).
*Chelsea have failed to score in already 18 games in all competitions of this season; last time they had so many or more goalless matches was the 1980-81 season (21 games).
*Rodrygo became the youngest visiting player (22 years 99 days) in UCL history with a brace at Stamford Bridge.
*Vinicius Jr. is the only player with double figures for both goals (10) and assists (11) in UCL since the start of last season.
*The 2nd leg against Chelsea became the 150th appearance in all European competitions for Toni Kroos.
*Karim Benzema, with only 1 goal in this tie vs Chelsea, has ended his super-streak when he has scored 3+ goals in 4 consecutive Champions League ties (3 vs PSG, 4 vs Chelsea, 3 vs Manchester City in 2021-22 season and 3 vs Liverpool in 2022-23).
Only Cristiano Ronaldo had a similar series before, between 2017 and 2018 (5 vs Bayern, 3 vs Atlético, 3 vs PSG, 3 vs Juventus).
*Milan, with 1-1 vs Napoli, have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 2006-07 season and for the 7th time overall (joint-most with Juventus among Italian teams.
*Milan have ended their 5-game series of clean sheets in UCL; their last conceded goal in the competition was dated by 11 October 2022 (from Aubameyang, vs Chelsea).
*Olivier Giroud became the 2nd oldest (36 years 200 days) French player to score in the Champions League, behind only Laurent Blanc (who scored at 36 years 338 days against Olympiacos in 2002).
*Napoli vs Milan is the first UCL game with a penalty missed by each side (Giroud for Milan and Kvaratskhelia for Napoli) since the 3 May 2016 semi-final Bayern vs Atlético (Thomas Müller missed a penalty for the first team and Fernando Torres for the second).
*Alex Meret (Napoli) became the 1st goalkeeper to save a Champions League penalty against Milan since Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool) who saved Andriy Shevchenko's attempt in the 2005 final shoot-out series.
*Meret is the first goalkeeper to save a penalty from a Milan player in the entire history of the Champions League, not counting shoot-outs. The only 2 penalties missed by Milan in the tournament, both by Shevchenko, in 2000 and 2006, went to the post and out).