Records, milestones, key stats and facts from last night's Champions League action
Iker Casillas now has 151 Champions League appearancesAfter spell-binding action on the first Matchday in the Champions League, the second day did not let down, continuing from where Groups A to D left things. The day saw the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Arsenal in action as another set of 16 sides started their 2015/16 campaign.The road to Champions League glory has just begin for these sides but some have already impressed with their showings on Matchday 2. A day that saw 10 penalties awarded in 8 games, also witnessed the teams and individuals in action reach some milestones themselves. There were also a couple of records set and intriguing statistics recorded that shuld provide some indication as to where the teams stand currently and what they need to do going forward to achieve their goals.
#1 English defeats
Matchday 1 saw both English teams lose their games and the dismal start for Premier League teams continued as Arsenal lost 2-1 to Dinamo Zagreb, making history in the process as it marked the first time in the Champions League that 3 English teams have lost on opening day.
To put that in perspective, Premier League teams had a splendid record between 2005 to 2011 when no English team lost their opening games. That number increased to 1 in 2012 and 2013, 2 in 2014 and now 3 teams have registered disappointing defeats to start their Champions League campaigns. In fact, the decline has been such that since 2011, there has been no matchday when all 4 English teams registered wins in the competition.
It has sparked an interesting debate on the decline of English clubs in Europe as none of them made it to even the quarter-final stage of the competition last time around. They will have to turn their dismal start around if they are to make any sort of mark on this season’s competition.