10 interesting stats from Matchday 1 | UEFA Champions League 2021-22
The 2021-22 UEFA Champions League has got off to a riveting start, with a slew of unexpected storylines emerging on Matchday 1.
For a start, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two-most prolific scorers in Champions League history, did not end up on the winning side. While Manchester United lost at Young Boys despite Ronaldo's opener, Messi failed to score on his first start for PSG, who drew 1-1 at Club Brugges.
In other results, Sheriff FC, the first Moldovan team to appear in the Champions League, opened their European sojourn with a 2-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk. Bayern Munich won at Barcelona, while Inter Milan lost at home to Real Madrid. Liverpool prevailed 3-2 in a five-goal thriller against AC Milan, who were back in the Champions League after seven years.
Holders Chelsea opened their title defense with a narrow 1-0 win over Zenit St. Petersburg. Manchester City's 6-3 home win over Leipzig was undoubtedly the most entertaining result of the Gameweek.
⏰ RESULTS ⏰
Goals, goals & more goals! What. A. Night! 🔥
🤯 Sébastien Haller makes history as Liverpool & Manchester City win thrillers...
Tell us which players stood out on Wednesday 👇
#UCL
Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski opened their accounts in the competition, as did a few Champions League debutants on the night. On that note, here are the ten most interesting stats, in no particular order, from Matchday 1 of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League:
#10 Four penalties are awarded in a Champions League game for the very first time
Sevilla opened their 2021-22 Champions League campaign with an unconvincing 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg. Both sides had chances to win the game, but the ten-man hosts would be the happier of the two teams with the result.
That's because Salzburg were awarded three penalties in the first half. The first one, in the 13th minute, was fired wide by Karim Adeyemi, who was fouled inside the box. Eight minutes later, Adeyemi was fouled in the Sevilla box again. But this time Luka Sucic stepped up and scored to give Salzburg the lead on the night.
Incredibly, Salzburg received another penalty sixteen minutes later, but this time Sucic hit the post from the spot. Sevilla then had a penalty of their own three minutes from half-time, which Ivan Rakitic converted to restore parity.
That marked the record for the most penalties in a Champions League game. Incredibly, all four spot-kicks came in the same half as well.
There have been four penalties in a single game for the first time in Champions League history.
And all four have come in the first half. 🤯 twitter.com/SquawkaNews/st…
There were shouts for a fifth penalty in the game. But Youssef En-Nesyri received his second booking of the night for simulation instead as the game ended all square at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
#9 Barcelona lose their opening Champions League game for the first time in 24 years
Barcelona's indifferent start to the post-Lionel Messi era continued as they slumped to a defeat at home against Bavarian giants Bayern Munich.
The result on the night was not as one-sided as it was in the two sides' last meeting in 2020, which Bayern won 8-2. But the 2019-20 Champions League winners were clearly the superior team on the night at Camp Nou, running out comfortable 3-0 victors.
It marked the first time since 1997-98 that Barcelona had lost their first Champions League game of the season.
Barcelona have lost their opening match of a #UCL campaign for the first time since 1997-98 (2-3 vs. Newcastle).
Welcome to the post-Messi era. https://t.co/gzKwLkOmep
More than the result, Barcelona's performance on the night left a lot to be desired. The hosts looked bereft of ideas in attack, ending the game without a shot on target all night. That marked the first time in almost two decades that the Blaugrana had no shots on target in a Champions League game.
#8 Thomas Muller becomes the most prolific scorer against Barcelona in Champions League history
Staying with the Barcelona-Bayern Munich game, Thomas Muller continued from where he left off against Barcelona in his side's 8-2 victory in 2020.
Muller followed up his brace in that game with another strike against the Blaugrana. The Ramdeuter now has seven goals in just six games in the Champions League against Barcelona. That makes him the most prolific scorer in the competition against the Catalans.
7 - Thomas Müller has scored more goals against Barcelona than any other player in European Cup/Champions League history (seven goals in six appearances). Thorn. https://t.co/LwH7OwePcx
With his latest goal against Barcelona, Muller moved to 49 goals in the competition. Incredibly, that's a record tally by a player without a hat-trick in the Champions League.
#7 Lionel Messi becomes the third outfield player to make 150 Champions League appearances
Weeks after his PSG debut in a Ligue 1 game, Lionel Messi made his first start for his new club in the Champions League. That made the Copa America 2021 winner only the third outfield player, fourth overall, to make 150 appearances in the competition.
150 - Lionel Messi will make his 150th appearance in the UEFA Champions League this evening, becoming only the third outfield player to reach this milestone in the competition (Cristiano Ronaldo, 177 & Xavi, 151). Omnipresent. https://t.co/WkRg0cM0hy
The four-time winner failed to score on his Champions League debut for PSG, though. He did come close to opening his PSG account in the first half, but saw a trademark left-footed curler cannon back off the woodwork.