A new UEFA Champions League season is underway with a new format, but the footballing drama remained the same. Some big teams opened their campaign with victories, others struggled. The likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSG and Borussia Dortmund won their opening matches while Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, RB Leipzig, AC Milan and Inter Milan were not at their best.
ESPN’s By The Numbers has a look at the best numbers from the matchday 1 of 2024-25 UEFA Champions League.
2
This was just the second time in 42 home UEFA Champions League matches under Pep Guardiola that Manchester City failed to score a goal. The last team to stop City from scoring was Sporting CP in March 2022.
1
Harry Kane became the first player to score a hat trick of penalties in a European Cup/Champions League match, and the first Englishman to score four in a match in the competition since Alan Smith did it for Arsenal against FK Austria Wien in 1991.
33
Kane also has 33 Champions League goals, which is the highest for any Englishman in the competition, overtaking Wayne Rooney’s 30 goals.
15
Kylian Mbappe became the 15th player to score on his debut for Real Madrid in the Champions League and the second Frenchman to do so after Christian Karembeu did it against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1998.
3
At 39 years and 8 days, Luka Modric became the third oldest player to assist a goal in Champions League history, after Ryan Giggs (39y, 363d) and Amedeo Carboni (39y, 176d).
30
Thibaut Courtois has saved 30 of the last 35 shots on target he has faced for Real Madrid in the Champions League, conceding just the five goals in their two semi-final meetings with Manchester City in 2023.
18Y, 58D
Real Madrid’s Endrick, at 18 years and 58 days, became the youngest player to score for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, breaking Raúl’s record, who scored at 18 years and 113 days in 1995.
17Y, 68D
Lamine Yamal became the second youngest scorer in UEFA Champions League history at 17 years, 68 days. Only Ansu Fati scored at a younger age in the tournament at 17y,40d.
19Y, 136D
Kenan Yildiz became the youngest goal-scorer for Juventus in the UEFA Champions League at 19 years and 136 days, breaking Alessandro Del Piero’s record when he scored in September 1995 against Dortmund at 20 years, 308 days.
2
Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz became the first ever German player to score 2+ goals on his UEFA Champions League debut.
2
Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise became first French player to score twice on his UEFA Champions League debut since Thierry Henry in 1997.
9
Bayern Munich became the first team to score 9 goals in a UEFA Champions League match.
152
Thomas Muller has appeared in 152 Champions League matches for FC Bayern Munich, breaking Xavi’s record for the most UCL matches with one club — 151 for FC Barcelona.
1
Girona’s Paulo Gazzaniga became the first goalkeeper from a Spanish team to score an own goal in the history of the Champions League.
(Stats Courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)
