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As the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League group-stage campaign concluded, most of the top European teams sealed their respective berths in the Round of 16. However, four former winners fell by the wayside as last season's semi-finalists Ajax, Inter Milan, Benfica, and Crvena Zvezda failed to negotiate the group stage of the competition.
This season's competition saw the most group-stage goals scored (308) since the second group stage was done away within 2003-04. Among six unbeaten teams in the group-stage, German champions Bayern Munich were the only team to win all their six games and score the most goals (24).
Ajax (10 points), and the trio of Internazionale, Benfica, and Zenit (7 points apiece) missed out on the Round of 16 while tournament debutants Atalanta's 7 points from 6 group-stage games were enough to take the Bergamo club to the knockout round of the Champions League in their first attempt.
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Let us have a look at 10 of the most interesting stats from the six Matchdays of group-stage action in this season's competition.
1. Two debutants score Champions League hat-tricks on the same Matchday for the first time
Red Bull Salzburg striker Erling Haaland and Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Mislav Orsic became the first pair of Champions League debutants to score hat-tricks on the same matchday, when they netted three goals apiece against Genk and Atalanta respectively earlier this season.
It marked only the 8th and 9th instances of players making their debut in the competition with a hat-trick and the first since Yacine Brahimi did so for Porto against BATE Borisov in a 2014-15 group-stage fixture.
In the process, Haaland became the third Norwegian and Orsic the first Croatian player to net three or more goals in a Champions League game.
Also read: Meet the debutants to have scored Champions League hat-tricks
2. Kylian Mbappe breaks Lionel Messi's record to become the youngest player to score 15 Champions League goals
Kylian Mbappé became the 95th different player to score a Champions League hat-trick as the World-Cup winner came off the bench to play a starring role in Paris Saint-Germain's 5-0 victory against Club Brugge.
At the age of 20 years and 306 days, Mbappe became the youngest player in Champions League history to score 15 goals in the competition, a record that was previously held by Lionel Messi.
Mbappe is also the only player to score a Champions League goal as a teenager for two different clubs (Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain)
3. Lionel Messi becomes the first player to score in 15 successive Champions League seasons
Lionel Messi scored his first Champions League goal of the season by opening the scoring for Barcelona in a 2-1 away win at Slavia Praha on Matchday 3.
In the process, Messi became the first player in Champions League history to score at least one goal in 15 consecutive seasons as the Argentine extended his record tally of group-stage goals in the competition to 67.
4. Erling Haaland becomes the first player to score 7 goals in his first 4 Champions League games
Erling Haland took to the UEFA Champions League like a fish to water as the teenager scored in a fourth consecutive game in the competition to take his tally to 7.
Haland's goal in RB Salzburg's 1-1 draw at Napoli kept his club in the reckoning for a place in the Round of 16 while making the Norwegian only the fourth player in the competition history, to have scored in each of his first four appearances. The others are Ze Carlos (FC Porto), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus) and Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid).
The Norwegian teenager ended his debut Champions League campaign with 8 goals in 6 games, scoring on every Matchday except on Matchday 6 as Salzburg's 2-0 home loss to Liverpool put the Austrian side out of reckoning for the Round of 16.
5. Claudio Bravo becomes the first substitute keeper in the Champions League to be sent off
Former Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo carved out an unwanted record for himself in the UEFA Champions League when he became the first keeper to come off the bench and get his marching orders in the competition.
Bravo, who came on at half-time, rushed off his line and brought down Atalanta winger Josip Ilicic, who was clean through on goal. The moment of indiscretion earned Bravo a straight red.
Defender Kyle Walker donned the goalkeeping gloves for the remainder of the match, as Manchester City held on for a 1-1 draw at the home of the UEFA Champions League debutants.
6. Robert Lewandowski records the fastest quadruple in Champions League history
Robert Lewandowski continues to break records this season. After going on a record-11-game scoring run in the Bundesliga, the prolific Pole turned his attention to the Champions League.
One of three players to have scored in each of the first four matchdays of the Champions League, Lewandowski scored four goals in a devastating 14-minute spell at Crvena Zvezda on matchday 5 which marked the fastest-ever quadruple in the competition.
In the process, Lewandowski registered his first Champions League hat-trick in over 4 years and became the only player after Lionel Messi to record multiple quadruples in the competition.
By scoring on matchday 5 in the Serbian capital, Lewandowski equalled Cristiano Ronaldo's record of scoring in 9 consecutive group-stage games in the competition as the Polish striker ended as the top-scorer of a Champions League season group stages for the second consecutive year.
7. Lionel Messi becomes the first player in the Champions League to score against 34 different teams
In his 700th competitive game for Barcelona (140th in the Champions League), Lionel Messi celebrated the landmark occasion with a record-breaking goal.
By scoring Barcelona's second goal in his team's 3-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund, Messi became the first player in the Champions League to score against 34 different clubs in the competition, breaking a tie he previously shared with Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul. (33 apiece)
The Argentina captain's 9 goals in the competition against Arsenal is his highest against any club, while his 26 goals against English clubs is the most he has scored against clubs from any country
8. Ansu Fati becomes the youngest scorer in a Champions League game
Barcelona's teenage sensation Ansu Fati created Champions League history on matchday 6. His late winner against Internazionalehim the youngest-ever scorer in the competition's history.
In the process, Fati broke the 22-year record held by Ghana's Peter Ofori-Quaye, who at 17 years 195 days had become the youngest scorer in the Champions League. Ofori-Quaye had scored in Olympiacos's 5-1 home win over Rosenborg in a group-stage game in the 1997-98 edition of the competition.
9. Atalanta become the first team to qualify for the knockout round after losing their first 3 games
The only tournament debutants in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League, Atalanta, became the first team to qualify for the knockout round of the competition after losing their first three games.
After scoring just twice and conceding 11 goals in defeats to Dinamo Zagreb (4-0 away), Shakhtar Donetsk (1-2 home) and Manchester City (5-1 away) in their first three games, Atalanta conceded just one goal in their next three.
A 1-1 home draw with group-winners Manchester City followed by a 2-0 home win over Dinamo Zagreb and a 3-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk confirmed Champions League action beyond Christmas for the competition debutants.
10. Bayern Munich record the best goal-difference by a Champions League group-winner
Bayern Munich completed their group stage engagements with a perfect 6/6 record, becoming only the 6th team and the first since Real Madrid in 2014-15 to win all their 6 group-stage games in the UEFA Champions League.
In the process, the Bavarian giants produced the best goal difference of '+19' by a group winner in the history of the competition, as they became only the 6th team to win all their 6 group-stage games in the Champions League.
AC Milan (1992-93), Paris Saint-Germain (1994-95), Spartak Moscow (1995-96), Barcelona (2002-03), and Real Madrid (2011-12 and 2014-15) are the only other teams to have a perfect group stage record in Champions League history.
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