The UEFA Champions League produced its fair share of excitement in the Round of 16 this week, with Real Madrid hammering Liverpool 5-2 in their first leg at Anfield. Napoli carried over their Serie A form to Europe, travelling to Germany and getting the better of Eintracht Frankfurt by a 2-0 scoreline.
Manchester City's trip to Germany wasn't as pleasing, with Pep Guardiola's men denied a win by Josko Gvardiol's second-half equaliser for RB Leipzig in a game that ended 1-1. Inter Milan meanwhile, left it late at the Giuseppe Meazza, with Romelu Lukaku's 86th minute goal enough for a 1-0 win over FC Porto.
By The Numbers has the best stats from the mid-week European action:
1
Since 2003-04, Real Madrid are the first team to score five goals despite having fewer than ten shots on goal. Curiously enough Liverpool also had 9 shots on goal, for an xG of 2.01, while Madrid's xG totalled up to 1.66.
Liverpool hadn't conceded 5 goals in a European Cup game since 1966 in a 5-1 loss to Ajax in Amserdam (h/t @StatsPerform).
This is the first time that Liverpool has conceded 5 goals in a European Cup game at Anfield. pic.twitter.com/S7XR0y9cxz
- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 21, 2023
32
Karim Benzema scored his 32nd UCL knockout stage goal - the third-highest ever - going past Robert Lewandowski on 30. He is behind only to Lionel Messi (49) and Cristiano Ronaldo (67). This was also Benzema's 18th goal against English clubs - his most vs clubs from a single country.
22y 224d
Aged 22 years, 224 days, Vinícius Junior is the youngest visiting player to score twice against Liverpool at Anfield in major European competition since Johan Cruyff in December 1966 for Ajax in the European Cup (19y 233d).
Vinícius Júnior is the first player in European Cup & Champions League history to score 5 goals against Liverpool.
He's only 22 years old 😱 pic.twitter.com/iCzxbcyf9g
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 21, 2023
1
While Vinícius Junior became the first player to score 5 European Cup goals against Liverpool, Karim Benzema later became the second player to do this and then the first to score 6 goals against Liverpool in European Cup play.
1
Mohamed Salah tied Didier Drogba for the 12th-most goals in UCL history (44) and the most by a player of African nationality. Salah's 10 goal contributions (8 G, 2 A) this UCL season are tied with Kylian Mbappé (7 G, 3 A) for the most by any player.
Real Madrid is the first team in UEFA Champions League history to win a game by 3+ goals after having trailed by multiple goals. pic.twitter.com/2ILu7LcdoW
- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 21, 2023
1
Victor Osimhen became the first Napoli player with 20 goals in all competitions of a single season since Arkadiusz Milik did it in 2018-19. The last Napoli player with more than 20 goals was Dries Mertens (22) in 2017-18.
7
Riyad Mahrez scored his 7th UCL knockout stage goal for Manchester City, tying Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling for the 3rd-most UCL KO stage goals in club history (Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne have 9 each).
Riyad Mahrez becomes the 5th African player to score 20 UCL goals along with Didier Drogba (44), Mohamed Salah (44), Samuel Eto'o (30), and Sadio Mané (27) 🌍 pic.twitter.com/uAgPKonGeD
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 22, 2023
52/84
52 of Manchester City's 84 goals this season in all competitions have been first time shots (10 of 14 in UCL). Of those, 24 have been by Erling Haaland (the next closest teammate is Julian Alvarez with 7)
0
Erling Haaland's fortunes are inextricably tied to those of Manchester City - when their Norwegian marksman fails to have a shot on target, City have only won one in eight games (all competitions). Leipzig had certainly done their homework - Haaland was limited to a single touch in the attacking third in the first half.
3
After 4 UEFA Champions League campaigns where they only let in two goals from corners, Manchester City have conceded three goals from corners this season alone.
1
Manchester City became first team to not make a substitute in a Champions League game since Manchester United in 2018 (vs Juventus).
Manchester City has won just 1 of its last 6 away games in all competitions. That's the club's fewest wins away from home in a 6-game span since April 2017. pic.twitter.com/6xjkIe7EEP
- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 22, 2023
22
FC Porto's streak of 22 unbeaten games in all competitions came to an end with their loss to Inter.
17 and 2/2
Romelu Lukaku has scored in consecutive appearances for the first time since May 2022. His goal against Porto made him the outright leader in UCL goals scored by a Belgian (17). Lukaku hadn't scored a non-penalty kick goal since Oct. 26, 2022 against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League group stage.
1
This is the first time in the UEFA Champions League that 3 Italian teams won the first leg of the same knockout stage (Inter, AC Milan and Napoli).
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)