IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - EUROPE



Picture : Messi scored his FIRST goal for Paris SG !


IFFHS statistics on Champions’ League group stage round 2 (September 28)



*Manchester City’s loss vs PSG (0-2) is their first Champions’ League group stage defeat since September 2018 (1-2 vs Lyon). They were unbeaten in 18 such games prior to that.

*Lionel Messi has finally scored his first goal for PSG (in his 4th game for the club).

*Messi increased his Champions’ League tally against English rivals to 27 goals; it’s 15(!) more than any other player in the history of competition.

*Messi and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (who also netted in his game) have now scored in 17 different Champions League campaigns; they are record co-holders in this category.

*Benzema has now 72 goals in Champions’ League. He has surpassed Raúl (71) and became 4th top scorer in the history of competition, only behind Cristiano Ronalado (136), Messi (121) and Lewandowski (75).

*Benzema has never yet missed a penalty with Real Madrid in an official match: the attempt vs Sheriff was his 14th successful out of 14 (and only first happened in Champions’ League game). 
Before this game, Benzema was the only player in the Champions League's 16 top scorers who had never taken a penalty in the tournament. 

*Sheriff became the first Champions’ League debutant to win their first two games (vs Shakhtar 2-0 and vs Real Madrid 2-1).since Leicester feat in 2016-17 campaign. 

*Georgios Athanasiadis (Sheriff) is visiting goalkeeper with the most saves made (11) who won a match at the Santiago Bernabéu in all the history of the Champions’ League. 
Dida (Milan) won with 9 saves in 2009 and Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow) with 8 saves in 2018.

*Real Madrid have only won 1 and lost 4 of their last 7 Champions’ League games at the Santiago Bernabéu (the sequence of these games:
0-3 vs CSKA Moscow, 1-4 vs Ajax, 2-2 vs Brugge, 6-0 vs Galatasaray, 2-2 vs PSG, 1-2 vs Manchester City, 1-2 vs Sheriff).

*Liverpool have scored 3 or more goals (5-1 vs Porto) in 6th consecutive matches in all competitions. It’s only third such feat in the club's history (The first such spell happened in October 1892 and the second in May 2009).

*Mohamed Salah who scored 2 goals vs Porto is now joint 2nd top African scorer in Champions’ League history. The Egyptian reached 30 goals, as many as Samuel Eto'o. Only Didier Drogba (44) is ahead.

*Sébastien Haller (Ajax) became the first ever player in the Champions’ League history to score 5 goals in his first two appearances in the competition. He left behind 4 players who scored 4 goals each: Marco van Basten (Milan), Diego Simeone (Atlético), Didier Drogba (Marseille) and Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund).

*Luis Suárez (Atletico) has not scored as a visitor in a Champions League match for 6 years and 12 days (2015, against Roma). His super-long drought has lasted 36 hours 23 minutes of playing time and came finally to end in the game vs Milan (2-1).