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UCL Group Stage MD3 stats say ahead of Tuesday's matches

football19 October 2021 10:07
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Besiktas v Sporting Lisbon
19 October 2021 / KO: 17:45

Besiktas and Sporting met twice in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League group stages, a 1-1 draw at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium before a 3-1 Sporting win in Lisbon.


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Sporting Lisbon have never won an away UEFA European match in Turkey, drawing three times – against Kocaelispor (1993, UEFA Cup), Gençlerbirligi (2003, UEFA Cup) and Besiktas (2015, Europa League) – and losing once, against Istanbul Basaksehir in February 2020 in the Europa League.

Besiktas have never beaten a Portuguese opponent on home soil in all European competition in eight previous attempts (D4 L4), with their three victories all coming in away games: 3-1 against Vitória Guimarães in the 2005-06 UEFA Cup, 2-0 against Braga in the 2011-12 Europa League and 3-1 against FC Porto in the 2017-18 Champions League.

Sporting CP have lost both of their games in the UEFA Champions League this season (v Borussia Dortmund and Ajax) – in the current group stage format, they’ve never previously lost their opening three games of a campaign in the competition.

Besiktas have only won one of their last 11 home games in the UEFA Champions League (D5 L5), while they’re winless in the most recent four (D2 L2). The Turkish side last won on home soil in the competition in September 2017, beating RB Leipzig 2-0.

Sporting CP haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 12 games in the UEFA Champions League (21 goals conceded), with their last one in the competition coming back in September 2016 against Legia Warsaw (2-0).

Besiktas have the highest expected goals (xG) against total of any team in the UEFA Champions League this season (6.5), however they’ve only conceded four goals despite that. Only Malmö FF (17) and FC Porto (15) have allowed more shots on target than the Turkish side (14) through the opening two rounds of this season’s competition.

Sporting CP have completed a sequence of 10+ passes on only 10 occasions across their first two UEFA Champions League games this season – the only teams who have completed fewer are Club Brugge (3), Sheriff Tiraspol and Dynamo Kyiv (4 each).

Among players who have registered 500+ minutes in the UEFA Champions League since the start of last season, Besiktas’ Miralem Pjanic (7.5) has been involved in more shot-ending sequences per 90 than any other midfielder.

Sporting CP striker Paulinho – who has scored their only goal in the UEFA Champions League this season – has netted seven goals in his last 11 starts in major European competitions, with six of those coming while playing for Braga in the UEFA Europa League.

Club Brugge v Manchester City
19 October 2021 / KO: 17:45

This is the first ever meeting between Club Brugge and Manchester City in European competition, with the Citizens the 11th different English side that Brugge have faced in Europe.

In all European competitions, Club Brugge are winless in 12 matches against English opponents (D3 L9) since beating Chelsea 1-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup in February 1995.

Manchester City have won five of their six European matches against Belgian opponents, losing the other 2-0 against Standard Liège in November 1978 in the UEFA Cup. Their last match against a side from Belgium came in October 2003 against KSC Lokeren, a 1-0 away win in UEFA Cup with a goal from Nicolas Anelka.

Club Brugge are unbeaten in their last four group stage games in the UEFA Champions League (W2 D2), picking up eight points in the process - this is their best points haul over a run of four games in the competition in their history. Only once have they gone five consecutive games without defeat in the UEFA Champions League, during a run of six ending in October 2019 (W1 D5).

Manchester City were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in their previous UEFA Champions League game, losing 2-0 at the Parc des Princes. As manager Pep Guardiola has only lost consecutive away games in the competition once previously, with those two games coming in the 2014-15 season in charge of Bayern Munich (1-3 v FC Porto and 0-3 v Barcelona).

Club Brugge are one of only three teams to have named the same starting XI in their two UEFA Champions League games this season (with Sheriff Tiraspol and Ajax), while the Belgian side have also made fewer substitutions than anyone else so far (5).

Since keeping seven consecutive clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League between October 2020 and March 2021, Manchester City have only kept one in their last seven games in the competition. They’ve conceded at least two goals in each of their last two (3 v RB Leipzig and 2 v PSG), as many times as they had conceded more than once as in their previous 25 Champions League games combined.

Since the start of last season, Phil Foden has been involved in more goal-ending sequences of play than any other Manchester City player in the UEFA Champions League (10). In this period, the only individuals to have been involved in more in the competition overall are Erling Haaland (13) and Kylian Mbappé (11).

Hans Vanaken has scored in each of his last four UEFA Champions League appearances for Club Brugge; the longest run of netting in consecutive outings by a Belgian player in the competition’s history.

Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez made his UEFA Champions League debut against Club Brugge in September 2016 in an away group match, scoring twice for Leicester City. He also netted once in Leicester’s home group match against them, with three goals his joint-most against an opponent in the competition (also three vs PSG).

Ajax v Borussia Dortmund
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

Ajax and Borussia Dortmund last faced in the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League group stages – the Germans won both games, 1-0 at home and 4-1 at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

In the two previous UEFA Champions League campaigns that Ajax and Borussia Dortmund have faced, one of them has reached the final and ended runners-up; in 1995-96, Ajax knocked out Dortmund in the quarter-final before losing on penalties to Juventus in the final, while in 2012-13 they met in the group stage and Dortmund went on to lose in the final against Bayern Munich.

Borussia Dortmund have won their last two major European matches in the Netherlands, winning 3-1 against PSV in October 2002 and 4-1 vs Ajax in November 2012, both in the UEFA Champions League. Their last defeat on Dutch soil was in the 2002 UEFA Cup final, a 3-2 defeat in Rotterdam against Feyenoord under Matthias Sammer.

Following victories in their last two outings in the competition, Ajax are looking to win their opening three games of a UEFA Champions League campaign for the first time since 1995-96 under Louis van Gaal, which was the last time they reached the final (lost on penalties to Juventus).

Borussia Dortmund have won four of their last five away UEFA Champions League matches (L1): more than they had in their previous 15 on the road (W3 D2 L10).

Ajax have generated more shots from high turnovers (sequences starting within 40 metres of the opponent’s goal) than any other team in the UEFA Champions League this season (7). Indeed, only Bayern München (37) and Chelsea (32) have made more high turnovers in total than Ajax so far (29).

Ajax striker Sébastien Haller is the top scorer in this season’s UEFA Champions League so far (5 goals). If he scores in this game, he would equal the club record for scoring in consecutive appearances in the competition (3 – Kluivert in 1995, Litmanen in 1996 and Tadic in 2018), in what are his first three games in the UEFA Champions League outright.

Jude Bellingham has been directly involved in each of Borussia Dortmund’s last four goals in the UEFA Champions League, scoring two and providing two assists. Since making his debut in the competition in October 2020, only Erling Haaland (13) has more combined goals and assists for Dortmund than Bellingham (5) overall.

Since making his UEFA Champions League debut for Ajax in September 2018, Dusan Tadic has averaged more chances created from open play per 90 than any other player in the competition (2.6 – minimum 1000+ minutes played in this period).

Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland has scored nine goals in nine away UEFA Champions League appearances so far; a goal in this game will see him become the fastest player to score 10 away goals in the competition, breaking the record of 12 games set by Mario Gomez in February 2011 and Kylian Mbappé in February 2019.

Atlético Madrid v Liverpool
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

Atlético Madrid and Liverpool last met in the last 16 of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League, with the Spaniards winning both legs, 1-0 at home and 3-2 away in extra-time.

Liverpool have failed to win any of their four UEFA Champions League matches against Atlético Madrid (D2 L2), only facing Basel as often (also four times) without winning in their European Cup/Champions League history.

Liverpool have lost six of their last seven away UEFA European matches on Spanish soil (D1) since beating Real Madrid in the last 16 of the 2008-09 Champions League. The Reds’ last win in Spain came against fellow English opponents, beating Tottenham 2-0 in the 2019 Champions League final in Atlético’s home stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano.

Atlético Madrid are winless in four home UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L1), their joint-longest run without a home win in the competition (also four in December 2009). They have only scored once from 45 shots in this run and with an expected goal tally of 4.4, have netted 3.4 goals fewer than they would have been expected to score.

Liverpool haven’t lost an away game in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League since September 2019 (0-2 v Napoli), winning five and drawing one of their last six such games. Jürgen Klopp’s side have scored 18 goals and conceded just three times across these six fixtures.

Four of Atlético Madrid’s last seven goals in the UEFA Champions League have been scored in the final 10 minutes of play, including each of the last three in a row. Excluding extra time, Luis Suárez’s penalty (96:23) against AC Milan last time out was the latest game-winning goal in the UEFA Champions League since the start of the 2003-04 season (as far back as Opta have exact goal times).

Atlético Madrid striker Luis Suárez scored 82 goals in 133 appearances for Liverpool between 2011 and 2014, although never played for the club in the UEFA Champions League. His only previous home appearance against the Reds saw him find the net for Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals in a 3-0 win in May 2019 (one goal).

Mohamed Salah has scored in each of his last five away games for Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League – the longest away scoring streak by a player for the Reds in the competition. Only one player has netted in more consecutive away appearances for an English club in the UEFA Champions League, with Sergio Agüero doing so in seven in a row for Manchester City between 2017 and 2019.

Since the start of last season, Atlético Madrid’s José Giménez has progressed an average of 8.9 metres per carry in the UEFA Champions League (90 carries); the highest average of any centre back to have played at least 500 minutes in this period.

13 of Sadio Mané’s 20 goals for Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League have been scored not in home games (65%) – among players with 20+ goals in the competition, only Kylian Mbappé (70%) have a higher such percentage.

FC Porto v Milan
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

FC Porto and Milan haven’t faced since the 2003 European Super Cup final, when Porto were reigning UEFA Cup champions and Milan had just won the Champions League. The Rossoneri won 1-0 with a goal from Andriy Shevchenko.

Milan last played Porto in the UEFA Champions League back in the 1996-97 group stages – Porto won 3-2 at the Meazza stadium before a 1-1 draw at the Estádio das Antas, with current Porto manager Sérgio Conceição playing for them in both matches. Porto finished top of the group that year, with Milan eliminated in third-place.

Including qualifying matches, seven of Milan’s eight away matches in UEFA competitions in Portugal have ended as a draw (W1), with their only win coming against Porto in March 1993, a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Jean-Pierre Papin goal.

FC Porto have lost their last two home games in the UEFA Champions League (0-2 v Chelsea and 1-5 v Liverpool), and will be looking to avoid suffering three consecutive home defeats in the competition for the first time in their history.

Milan suffered a 3-2 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in their opening away UEFA Champions League match of 2021-22, last losing consecutive away European games back in April 2012, against Arsenal and Barcelona in this competition.

FC Porto have kept a clean sheet in six of their last seven games in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (W4 D2 L1), however they conceded five times in their last outing in the competition against Liverpool.

Among players who have registered 500+ minutes in the competition since the start of last season, FC Porto winger Luis Díaz leads all players in the UEFA Champions League for the furthest average carry distance – the Colombian has made 79 carries in total, at an average of 14.2 metres in distance covered.

AC Milan pair Rafael Leão and Brahim Díaz have either scored or assisted in both of their two UEFA Champions League appearances this season. The last player to be directly involved in a goal in three consecutive appearances in the competition for AC Milan was Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 2011-12 campaign (five in a row).

AC Milan’s Theo Hernández has carried the ball 282 metres upfield in the UEFA Champions League so far this season (from 24 total carries); the third-furthest of any full back in the competition, behind only Liverpool’s Andy Robertson (383m) and Bayern München’s Alphonso Davies (382m).

Mehdi Taremi has scored 50% of FC Porto’s goals in the UEFA Champions League in 2021 (3/6). The Iranian forward is looking to score in three consecutive home games in the UEFA Champions League, with Moussa Marega being the last player to do so for FC Porto (a run of four in 2018-19).

Inter Milan v Sheriff Tiraspol
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

This is the first ever meeting between teams from Italy and Moldova in all European competition.

Sheriff Tiraspol are looking to become just the third team in the 21st Century to win their first three games in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, after Leicester City in 2016-17 and Málaga in 2012-13.

Inter Milan have failed to score in their last three home UEFA Champions League games (last two group games in 2020-21, 0-1 vs Real Madrid this season). They have never previously gone four major UEFA European home games without scoring.

Sheriff Tiraspol have scored twice in both of their UEFA Champions League games this season (2-0 v Shakhtar Donetsk and 2-1 v Real Madrid) - the last team to score 2+ goals in their first three games in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League was Brøndby IF in 1986.

Inter Milan have only won one of their last nine games in the UEFA Champions League (D4 L4), while they’re winless in the most recent three without scoring a goal (D2 L1). Indeed, the Italian side have failed to score in five of their last seven games in the competition.

Following their victory away at Real Madrid, Sheriff Tiraspol could become the first team since Aston Villa in 1981-82 to win their first two away games in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.

Since the start of last season, Inter Milan have only scored three of their 17 ‘big chances’ in the UEFA Champions League – their conversion rate of 18% is the lowest of any team to have been involved in the both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 tournaments.

Sheriff Tiraspol have averaged just 24.8% possession across their two UEFA Champions League games to date. Since 2003-04 (as far back as this data is available), the lowest possession average by a team in a single season in the competition was 30% by Crvena Zvezda in 2018-19.

After scoring five goals in his first five starts for Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League, Lautaro Martínez has only netted one goal in his eight starts in the competition since then. The Argentinean will be looking for his first UEFA Champions League goal at the Giuseppe Meazza since October 2019 (v Borussia Dortmund).

Sheriff Tiraspol’s Cristiano has made more assists than any other player in the UEFA Champions League this season (3). All three of them have been made following a ball carry (moving 5+ metres with the ball), which is already the most assists from carries recorded by a player in a single campaign since Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies in 2019-20 (3).

Paris Saint-Germain v RB Leipzig
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

This is a third consecutive UEFA Champions League season to see PSG and RB Leipzig face – in 2019-20, PSG won 3-0 in a single leg semi-final, while both sides won their home games in last season’s group stage (RB Leipzig v PSG 2-1 & PSG v RB Leipzig 1-0).

RB Leipzig have only faced Zenit St Petersburg (four times) more often than PSG (three times) in European competition, excluding qualifiers. Having met in the UEFA Champions League in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Leipzig are only the second side PSG have faced in three consecutive seasons in the competition, after Chelsea (2013-14 – 2015-16).

In the UEFA Champions League, German teams have faced PSG away from home on eight occasions and lost seven of those games – however, the exception was in April this year, when Bayern München won 1-0 at the Parc des Princes in the second leg of last season’s quarter-final.

RB Leipzig have lost four of their five away UEFA Champions League matches since the start of last season (W1), with those five games producing 24 goals at an average of 4.8 per game.

PSG have only lost one of their last 28 home games in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (W22 D5), with that defeat coming against Manchester United in October 2020. The French side have netted 2.7 goals per game on average in this run of 28 fixtures.

RB Leipzig manager Jesse Marsch has taken charge of 14 games in the UEFA Champions League (12 for RB Salzburg and two with his current club), while he is still waiting for his team to keep a clean sheet in the competition. The American has taken charge of more games with his team conceding in 100% of them than any other manager in the history of the competition (14/14).

Lionel Messi has been directly involved in five goals in six UEFA Champions League appearances at the Parc des Princes (four goals and one assist), including scoring once in his first game in the competition there as a PSG player (v Manchester City). The only previous players to score in their first two home games for PSG in the UEFA Champions League are Neymar (2017), Alex (2012) and George Weah (1994).

RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku has netted four goals in two UEFA Champions League games this season, with only Ajax’s Sébastien Haller (5) scoring more so far. The Frenchman could become the first player to score in three consecutive appearances for RB Leipzig in the competition.

Since the start of last season, Kylian Mbappé has completed more take-ons than any other player in the UEFA Champions League (41), while he also been directly involved in the most shots following take-ons of any individual (9 – eight shots, one chance created).

Christopher Nkunku made two appearances in the UEFA Champions League for PSG in 2015 and 2017, amounting to 23 minutes in total. Nkunku scored once against his former side last season for RB Leipzig, with only Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scoring more than once against the Parisians after playing for them in the competition, netting home and away for Bayern München in last season’s quarter-final (two goals in total).

Shakhtar Donetsk v Real Madrid
19 October 2021 / KO: 20:00

For a second consecutive season, Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid will meet in the UEFA Champions League group stages – Donetsk beat Madrid in both meetings last season (3-2 away, 2-0 home), only the fifth time a side has beaten Real Madrid home and away in a group stage in the competition.

Real Madrid could lose three consecutive UEFA Champions League matches against an opponent for the third time: previously four in a row against Bayern München between May 2000 and April 2002 and three in a row against Juventus between March 2005 and November 2008.

Having beaten Inter Milan 1-0 on MD1 at the Meazza stadium, Real Madrid are looking to win their opening two away matches in a UEFA Champions League season for the first time since 2014-15, when they beat Ludogorets and Liverpool and went on to reach the semi-final.

Shakhtar Donetsk have had the most shots of any team yet to score in the UEFA Champions League this season (32), while only Inter Milan (3.5) have a higher expected goals total than the Ukrainian outfit (2.2) among teams who haven’t scored.

Real Madrid were beaten at home by Sheriff Tiraspol last time out in the UEFA Champions League, while their current manager Carlo Ancelotti hasn’t lost consecutive games in the competition since April 2017. His two defeats on that occasion came while in charge of Bayern München, against his current club Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the 2016-17 edition.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has won all four of his previous UEFA Champions League games against Shakhtar Donetsk, beating them twice in the group stages in each of 2004-05 and 2007-08 with AC Milan. He has only won more games against Bayern München (6) and Liverpool (5) than he has against the Ukrainian side.

Since the start of last season, Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been involved in more shot-ending sequences of play (76) than any other player in the UEFA Champions League. In this same period, Lionel Messi (12) is the only player who has recorded more multi-shot involvements than Benzema (10), which captures all instances of sequences where a player is both involved in the build-up and takes the shot.

Shakhtar’s Manor Solomon is looking to become the first player since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score in three consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances against Real Madrid (four between September 2016 – December 2017). At 22 years old, Solomon would be the youngest player to score in three in a row against Real Madrid in the competition.

Eden Hazard has only scored once and made one assist in 799 minutes for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League (12 appearances). At former club Chelsea, the Belgian averaged a goal or assist in the competition every 183 minutes, scoring eight goals and setting up a teammate eight times in his 38 appearances.

Shakhtar defender Mykola Matvienko has made the most progressive carries (53) in the UEFA Champions League this season (defined as a player moving 5+ metres upfield with the ball). Indeed, the Ukrainian has carried the ball further than any other player in the competition so far this term (811 metres, 81 carries).

 

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