After a fascinating set of first legs, the semifinals of this season’s UEFA Champions League are intriguingly poised. There were nine goals in the first leg of the first semifinal between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes, in one of the great UCL semifinal matches ever. Arsenal traded penalties with Atlético Madrid in a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital, in the second semifinal. Those results leave both ties in the balance ahead of the seconds legs in Munich and London respectively.
By The Numbers brings you the most significant statistical details from the first legs of both semifinals.
PSG 5-4 Bayern Munich
9
Nine goals were scored for the first time in a UCL semifinal match. It is also the joint-second highest-scoring UCL knockout match, just behind the 10 scored in Bayern Munich’s 8-2 quarterfinal win against Barcelona in the 2019-20 season. Earlier this season, Barcelona’s Round of 16 second leg against Newcastle United also saw nine goals scored, in a 7-2 win for the Spanish giants.
4+
This was only the second time in UCL knockout history that both teams have four or more goals in a single match, after Liverpool‘s 4-4 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the 2008-09 season.
5/5
PSG scored with all their five shots on target in this game, it’s the first time on record (since the 2003-04 season) that a team has had five or more shots on target in a UCL knockout match, and scored with all of them.
5
Bayern Munich have conceded five goals in a match for the first time since a 5-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in December 2023, and for the first time in European competition since the 1994-95 UCL semifinal second leg against Ajax, which they lost 5-2.
5
The five goals scored in the first half of this game made this the highest-scoring first half in a UCL semifinal or final in history, and the joint-highest scoring first half in a UCL knockout ever.
6
Harry Kane has now scored in six consecutive UCL games, the longest streak by an English player in the competition. Kane broke a tie with Steven Gerrard, who had scored in five consecutive games in the 2007-08 season.
8
Kane has now scored in eight games in a row, across competitions, for Bayern. It’s the longest scoring streak he’s had in his career.
10
PSG are now unbeaten in their last 10 UCL knockout matches, the longest such streak by any French club in history.
15
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia‘s brace took him to 15 direct goal contributions in the UCL this season, with 10 goals and five asssists. That is the most direct goal contributions in a single season by a PSG player in UCL history.
50
This game marked Luis Enrique’s 50th win in the UCL, he became the fastest manager to achieve the feat, in just 77 games. That is three games faster than Pep Guardiola’s previous record of 50 wins in 80 games.
5/8
PSG have won UCL knockout ties on five of the eight previous occasions in which they have won the first leg at home.
2/7
Bayern Munich have won UCL knockout ties on only two of the seven previous occasions in which they have lost the first leg away from home.
Atlético Madrid 1-1 Arsenal
100%
This was the first UCL match in 25 years where more than one goal was scored, and all of them came from penalties, after the 2001 final between Bayern Munich and Valencia, which also ended 1-1.
10
Julián Álvarez scored his tenth goal of this UCL season, the most an Atlético Madrid player has scored in a single UCL season.
25
Álvarez scored the 25th goal of his UCL career in his 41st appearance in the competition. He surpassed Lionel Messi to become the fastest South American player to reach 25 UCL goals.
40/43
After his successful spot kick in this game, Viktor Gyökeres has now scored 40 of the 43 penalties that he’s taken in his career.
13
Arsenal have now gone 13 games unbeaten in the UCL, tying their club record for the longest unbeaten UCL run ever, to go with the 13 games they went unbeaten between 2005 and 2006.
2.22
Atlético Madrid’s 2.2 xG against Arsenal is the second-highest that any team has managed against Mikel Arteta’s side in any competition this season, behind the 2.52 xG that Aston Villa managed against the Gunners in December.
5/8
Atlético have won UCL knockout ties on five of the eight previous occasions in which they have drawn the first leg.
3/7
Arsenal have won UCL knockout ties on three of the seven previous occasions in which they have drawn the first leg, including this season’s Round of 16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen.
(Stats courtesy ESPN Global Sports Research)
