Last night saw an entertaining set of games take place that had a lot of significance in the footballing world. Barcelona got knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid which meant there is still no team in the modern era that has won the Champions League two times in a row.
Bayern Munich also qualified for the semi-finals after a 2-2 draw with Benfica winning the tie 3-2 on aggregate as Pep Guardiola managed to reach yet another semi-final. With the draw for the next round to take place on Friday we look at some of the best stats from the game
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Barcelona
2 – With Barcelona exiting the competition, this year will once again see a different team win the trophy. This means that no team has retained the crown since AC Milan managed to lift the European Cup in 1988-89 and 1989-90 beating Steaua Bucharesti and Benfica respectively
452 – Leo Messi has gone 452 minutes without scoring for Barcelona. This is his worst run in 6 years. The last time he had a similar drought was in 2010 when he went 527 minutes without scoring. He has failed to find the net against Villareal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid twice.
This is also the longest he has gone without scoring or assisting for Barcelona
0 – Having not scored since the 3-1 win over Arsenal last month Messi would have wanted to avoid this record as well. The Argentine didn’t register a shot on target in the entire match for the first time in a UCL game since April of 2014 which was also coincidentally against Atletico Madrid.
2 – Barcelona have been knocked out in the quarter-final stage of the Champions League for the second time in three years. It is also the second time in their last nine seasons.
Atletico Madrid
63 – Diego Simeone's team are known for their incredible defensive game and a big reason for the success of their style has been Diego Godin. The central defender has 63 clearances and 32 interceptions in the UCL this season. No defender can match that statistic in the competition this season
1 – As mentioned earlier Barca have failed to reach the semi-final stage only twice since 2007/08 season. Both times it has been Atletico Madrid who have been the team to deny the Catalans. The previous occasion was 2013/14 when Atletico reached the final.
23.1% – When any team plays Barcelona you generally expect the Catalans to dominate possession. But Atletico is a team that sets up to concede possession. They only had 23.1% of the ball last night which is the second lowest in a UEFA Champions League game over the last 10 seasons
50% – Here’s another impressive defensive stat. Diego Godin has the second highest percentage of clean sheets after a minimum of 35 matches. The first highest is still Manchester United legend Edwin Van Der Sar.
122 – Less possession also means a lower pass completion rate. Atletico now hold the record for the least number of passes completed in this season’s competition which stands at 122.
2 – It wasn’t MSN that stole the show last night but Antoine Griezmann with his two goals that ended the Catalans hopes of a treble. He is now the first and only French player to score a brace against Barca in the Champions League
Bayern Munich
3-2 – Pep Guardiola will breathe a sigh of relief after his team managed to scrape out a 2-2 draw against Benfica in Portugal thus progressing to the next round 3-2 on aggregate. That means all four teams in the Semi’s have won their quarter-finals with the same score line of 3-2
7 – The former Barcelona manager now achieved a personal record which he will hope to achieve with Manchester City as well next season. He ahs now qualified for the semi-finals of the UCL in each of his last 7 seasons, 4 times with Barcelona and now 3 times with Bayern.
4 – Bayern in contrast to Atletico haven’t been solid at the back. The Germans have conceded 18 times in the last 13 matches away from home.
