Tuesday's UCL action: What the stats say

The only previous meeting between Lokomotiv Moscow and RB Salzburg came on MD1 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, with the game ending 2-2 at the Red Bull Arena Salzburg.

RB Salzburg remain winless when facing Russian teams in European competition (D2 L1), with their only away game in this run being a 1-1 draw against FK Krasnodar in the UEFA Europa League back in November 2016.

Of the 20 shots attempted between these sides in their MD1 meeting – which ended in a 2-2 draw - 15 of them were by RB Salzburg. Indeed, Lokomotiv Moscow scored twice from just three shots on target in the game.

Lokomotiv Moscow kept only their eighth clean sheet in 42 UEFA Champions League matches last time out against Atletico Madrid – the Russian side are looking for back to back shutouts in the competition for the first time since October 2003.

Since the start of last season, RB Salzburg’s 10 games in the UEFA Champions League group stages have seen 50 goals scored (23 for, 27 against), the most of any club. Salzburg have won just two of those 10 games (D2 L6).

Lokomotiv have won two of their last 17 UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L12) and haven’t won any of their last nine in the competition (D3 L6).

RB Salzburg are just the 11th team in UEFA Champions League history to ship 14 goals in their first four matches of a campaign, and the first Austrian side to do so since Sturm Graz in the 1998-99 season.

Only Barcelona (36) have had more shots on target than FC Red Bull Salzburg (32) in the UEFA Champions League this season. Their 11 shots on target against Bayern Munich on MD4 was the most by a team against a reigning champion since November 2012, when Juventus had 13 against Chelsea.

Lokomotiv’s Anton Miranchuk has scored in each of their two home UEFA Champions League appearances this season. The only player to score in three consecutive home Champions League appearances for a Russian side is Artem Dzyuba for Zenit in November 2015.

In three UEFA Champions League starts this season, FC Red Bull Salzburg’s Mergim Berisha has been directly involved in three goals (2 goals, 1 assist).

Atlético Madrid v Bayern Munich

This will be the eighth meeting between Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, with the Spanish side winning just two of the previous seven (D1 L4).

Bayern Munich have won their last two games against Atlético Madrid in the UEFA Champions League (in 2016-17 and 2020-21), as many as they had in their first five meetings in European competition combined (W2 D1 L2).

Atlético Madrid have won each of the previous two games they’ve hosted against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, with both victories coming by a 1-0 scoreline in 2016 – firstly in the semi-final first leg in 2015-16 and then in the group stage the following season.

After losing five consecutive away games against Spanish opponents in the UEFA Champions League between 2013-14 and 2016-17, Bayern Munich have avoided defeat in each of their last two such games – 2-1 v Sevilla and 2-2 v Real Madrid, both in 2017-18.

Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone has lost three of his five UEFA Champions League meetings with Bayern Munich – against no other opponent has he lost more often in the competition (also three against Real Madrid).

Bayern Munich have won their last six away games in the UEFA Champions League by an aggregate score of 27-7, while they could equal their longest run of consecutive away wins in the European Cup/Champions League with a victory here (seven between February 2013 and 2014).

Atlético Madrid have lost just one of their last 24 UEFA Champions League home matches (W18 D5), a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in September 2017. Madrid have never lost a home Champions League game against the reigning champions (P4 W3 D1).

Bayern Munich have faced 10+ shots on target in each of their last two UEFA Champions League matches, both vs RB Salzburg (10 away, 11 home). They had only faced 10+ shots on target in two of their previous 47 matches in the competition, while the 28 they have faced in total in the group stage in 2020-21 is their most in the group stage since 2010-11 (34).

Atlético’s Yannick Carrasco had seven shots without success against Lokomotiv on MD4, with only PSG’S Kylian Mbappé (11) having more in total in 2020-21 without scoring than the Belgian (9), who has failed to score in his 17 UEFA Champions League appearances.

Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski has scored 38 goals in 38 UEFA Champions League group stage appearances for the club – since 2014-15, this is the most of any player in the competition. Lewandowski’s goal against RB Salzburg on MD4 took him joint-third with Raúl on 71 goals on the list of all-time Champions League scorers.

Shakhtar Donetsk v Real Madrid

After losing their two meetings in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2015-16, Shakhtar Donetsk won their most recent game against Real Madrid – 3-2 away from home on MD1 this season.

This will be Real Madrid’s second away trip to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League, having previously won 4-3 there back in November 2015, under Rafael Benítez.

The previous three games between Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League have seen a total of 16 goals scored, at an average of 5.3 per game.

Real Madrid have only lost one of their previous seven away games against Ukrainian opponents in European competition (W2 D4), going unbeaten in the four such games since a 2-0 defeat to Dynamo Kiev in March 1999.

Since beating Real Madrid on MD1, Shakhtar Donetsk have won none of their three games in the UEFA Champions League, drawing one and losing two and failing to score in all three games while shipping 10 goals.

A win for Real Madrid will ensure they qualify for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages for a 24th consecutive season, a competition record.

Since scoring the third goal in their win against Real Madrid on MD1 (3-2), Shakhtar Donetsk have failed to score with each of their last 23 shots in the UEFA Champions League. Indeed, only six of these 23 attempts have been recorded on target.

Shakhtar have lost their last two UEFA Champions League matches by 4+ goals without scoring – the only sides to lose three in a row in this manner are Malmö FF in 2015/16 and Crvena Zvedza in 2019/20.

Against Internazionale, Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos completed 128 passes, the most by a Madrid player in a UEFA Champions League game since Kroos himself completed 134 against Malmö FF in September 2015 and the most by a player against Inter since Xavi in April 2010 for Barcelona (142).

Eden Hazard ended a run of 11 UEFA Champions League appearances without a goal, scoring Real Madrid’s opening goal against Inter on MD4 from the penalty spot. Among players with more than five goals in the competition, only Timo Werner (6/10, 60%) has scored a higher percentage from penalties than the Belgian (5/9, 56%).

Borussia Mönchengladbach v Inter Milan

Since losing their first ever meeting with Inter Milan (2-4 in the European Cup in 1971), Borussia Mönchengladbach are unbeaten in their last four games against the Italian side in European competition (W1 D3).

This will be Inter Milan’s first away game at Borussia Mönchengladbach since October 1979, when the two sides played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of a Last 32 tie in the UEFA Cup (Gladbach eventually progressed 4-3 on aggregate).

Borussia Mönchengladbach have drawn each of their last four games against Italian opponents in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, with two of those finishing goalless.

Inter Milan will be looking for their first away victory against a German side in Europe since March 2011 (3-2 v Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League), having failed to win any of their last four such games in European competition (D1 L3).

After winning just two of their first 14 UEFA Champions League games (D6 L6), Borussia Mönchengladbach have won each of their last two games, beating Shakhtar Donetsk in both games by an aggregate score of 10-0.

Internazionale have failed to win any of their first four UEFA Champions League matches in a campaign for the first time (D2 L2) in what is their 14th season in the competition. The last Italian side to win none of their first five games in a season were Fiorentina in 2008/09.

Borussia Mönchengladbach are looking to win three consecutive games in major UEFA European competition for the first time since winning four in a row in their 1995/96 Cup Winners’ Cup campaign.

Internazionale have never lost three consecutive UEFA Champions League group stage matches and have only lost three in a single campaign once previously, losing three last season.

Lars Stindl has been directly involved in 11 goals in his last 10 UEFA Champions League starts for Borussia Mönchengladbach (6 goals, 5 assists). He has both scored and assisted in his last two appearances, the first German to player to achieve that since Mesut Özil in November 2016 for Arsenal.

Antonio Conte has won just 20% of his UEFA Champions League matches as manager of Internazionale (W2 D3 L5), the lowest win ratio of any of the eight Inter managers to manage at least 5+ games in the competition.

Marseille v Olympiakos

Marseille have lost each of their last two meetings with Olympiakos in European competition by a 0-1 scoreline; this coming after they had won each of their first three games against them.

Olympiakos won on their only previous away trip to face Marseille in the UEFA Champions League, picking up a 1-0 victory in the group stage back in November 2011.

The three previous meetings between Marseille and Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League have seen just three goals scored, with all of them finishing 1-0 (one win for Marseille and two for Olympiakos).

Olympiakos have won two of their previous three away games against French sides in the UEFA Champions League (L1), although they did lose in their most recent such trip – 1-2 v Paris SG back in November 2013.

Marseille have lost their last 13 UEFA Champions League matches – a competition record – scoring just six goals and conceding 29.

Since winning 1-0 against Marseille on MD1, Olympaikos have lost all three of their UEFA Champions League matches, failing to score and conceding six goals.

Among all managers since the formation of the UEFA Champions League, only Dorinel Munteanu (9 in a row), Rui Vitória and Mustafa Denizli (8 in a row) have endured a longer run of defeats than André Villas-Boas’ current seven-match losing run across spells with Zenit (3) and current club Marseille (4).

Olympiakos had just two touches in Manchester City’s box on MD4, the joint-fewest by a team in a UEFA Champions League game this season (Zenit vs B Dortmund, also 2). It was the fewest by a team in a home game in the competition since November 2017 (Qarabag v Chelsea, also 2).

Marseille’s Florian Thauvin has lost all 10 of his UEFA Champions League appearances, becoming the seventh player to end on the losing side in his first 10 games in the competition. Five of the previous six avoided defeat in another match, leaving only former Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Adrián Calello with the now joint-worst 100% losing record (lost 10 out of 10).

Marseille (6) and Olympiakos (8) are the only two teams in the UEFA Champions League in 2020/21 yet to attempt at least 10 shots on target, with the Greek side managing just one across their last two matches against Man City.

FC Porto v Manchester City

FC Porto have lost their three previous meetings with Manchester City by an aggregate score of 2-9, conceding at least two goals in each game.

Manchester City’s only previous away game at FC Porto in European competition came in February 2012, with the Citizens winning 2-1 in the first leg of a Last 32 tie in the UEFA Europa League (they later progressed 6-1 on aggregate).

FC Porto are winless in their last five meetings with English teams in the UEFA Champions League (D1 L4), with their last such victory coming against Leicester City back in December 2016 (5-0).

Manchester City have only lost one of their previous seven games against Portuguese opponents in European competition (W5 D1), however the defeat in this run came in their most recent away game against a Portuguese side (0-1 v Sporting CP in the UEFA Europa League).

FC Porto have won six of their last seven home games in the UEFA Champions League (L1), however the lone defeat in this run did come against another English opponent (1-4 v Liverpool in April 2019). Indeed, the only game the Portuguese side have failed to win in the competition this season was in the reverse fixture versus Manchester City (1-3).

Manchester City have won all four of their games in the UEFA Champions League this season, keeping a clean sheet in the most recent three. Pep Guardiola’s side have already kept more clean sheets in the competition this season (3) than they did in nine games in the competition last season (2).

FC Porto have scored with 25.8% of their shot attempts in the UEFA Champions League this season (8/31) – as of the start of MD5, only Borussia Mönchengladbach have a higher shot conversion rate than them this term (28.6%).

Manchester City have made the most high turnovers of any team in the UEFA Champions League this season (37), while they also lead all teams in high turnovers ending in goals (3). Indeed, 30% of their goals in the competition this term have been scored following these actions (3/10).

Sergio Agüero has scored 17 goals in his last 20 starts for Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League, while his most recent start in the competition came against FC Porto earlier in this season’s competition; scoring City’s first goal in a 3-1 win.

Sérgio Oliveira has netted in each of his last three UEFA Champions League appearances for FC Porto; the longest streak by a Portuguese player for the club since Zé Carlos in November 1993, who netted in four in a row.

Liverpool v Ajax

This will be the fourth meeting between Liverpool and Ajax in European competition, with the previous three ending in an Ajax win, a draw and a Liverpool win.

Ajax have only played away at Liverpool in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League once previously, with the two sides playing out a 2-2 draw in the second leg of a Last 16 tie in 1966-67 (Ajax won 7-3 on aggregate).

Since losing their first ever game against a Dutch team in European competition (1-5 v Ajax in December 1966), Liverpool have gone unbeaten in 14 subsequent games against teams from the Netherlands (W9 D5).

Ajax haven’t lost any of their last five away games against English sides in the UEFA Champions League (W1 D4), with the most recent such trip being an entertaining 4-4 draw against Chelsea in November 2019.

Liverpool’s defeat against Atalanta ended a run of eight consecutive games without defeat in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (W7 D1), while the Reds have only once previously lost consecutive group stage games in the competition under Jürgen Klopp (in November 2018).

Ajax are unbeaten in their last 11 away games in the UEFA Champions League (W7 D4); their longest run away from home in the competition since between September 1994 and March 1997 (14 games – W10 D4).

Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is one of only four players to have scored 20+ goals in the UEFA Champions League (21), along with Robert Lewandowski (31), Cristiano Ronaldo (26) and Lionel Messi (24).

Ajax’s Dusan Tadic has created the joint-most chances following ball carries in the UEFA Champions League this season (6 – level with Jadon Sancho and Kinglsey Coman), while no player has made more carries resulting in assists (2 – level with Juan Cuadrado and Joshua Kimmich).

After scoring five goals in his first seven appearances at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League, Liverpool’s Sadio Mané has only scored one goal in his last 10 home appearances in the competition. Indeed, he has played 426 minutes at Anfield since last scoring in the Champions League there (v RB Salzburg in October 2019).

In 18-year-old Ryan Gravenberch and 19-year-old Lassina Traoré, Ajax are one of only two teams to have had more than one teenage player score for them in the UEFA Champions League this season, along with Barcelona (Pedri and Ansu Fati).

Atalanta v FC Midtjylland

The only previous meeting between Atalanta and FC Midtjylland came on MD1 of this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign, with the Italian side picking up a 4-0 victory away from home.

FC Midtjylland have lost all three of their previous games against Italian opponents in European competition, conceding 13 goals and scoring just one in reply.

Including qualifiers, Atalanta have played three previous games against Danish teams in European competition and are yet to concede a goal (four scored - W1 D2).

FC Midtjylland’s only previous away game against an Italian side in European competition came back in November 2015, when they were beaten 5-0 by Napoli in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.

With two games left to go in the group stage of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League, Atalanta have already won as many points this season as they did in the group stage last season (7 - W2 D1 L3 in 2019-20).

FC Midtjylland are one of only two teams to have lost all four of their games in the UEFA Champions League this season (along with Marseille), while they also have the joint-worst goal difference of any team in the competition (-9, equal with Marseille and Shakhtar Donetsk).

Atalanta have only failed to score in one of their last 12 games in the UEFA Champions League (25 goals in total), although this did come in their most recent home game in the competition, losing by five goals to Liverpool.

FC Midtjylland have scored with just two of their 32 shots in the UEFA Champions League this season (6.3% shot conversion rate), while only Marseille (0) and Olympiakos (1) have found the net on fewer occasions.

Josip Ilicic has been directly involved in seven goals in his last five games for Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League (six goals and one assist) – his seven goal involvements in the competition is also the most of any player for the club.

Anders Dreyer has attempted 34% of FC Midtjylland’s total shots in the UEFA Champions League this season (11/32), while the only one of his 11 shots to find the back of the net came in their most recent home game in the competition (versus Ajax on MD3).