THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2020/21 : THE STORY SO FAR
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2020/21 : THE STORY SO FAR
After seven weeks of furious Champions League action, it’s time to take stock of the stories from the competition so far .
Spoiler alert: it’s not been a vintage start to the 2020/21 Champions League for French clubs but things looks so good for PSG after scoring Barcelona 4:1 at Camp Nou which makes the French side favorites to qualify to the next stage of the ucl competition.
You Gotta know this:
With his goal against Hungarian side Ferencvárosi TC, Lionel Messi added another victim to his list. The Argentine has now scored against 36 different teams in UEFA Champions League history, three more than any other player in the history of the competition.
The only five teams he’s played and not scored against are Atlético de Madrid (four apps), Internazionale (four apps), Rubin Kazan (four apps), Benfica (two apps) and Udinese (one app).
The legendary Barcelona star has also now scored in 16 different Champions League seasons – a record he shares with Karim Benzema and Ryan Giggs
Ronaldo Keeps Going
Cristiano Ronaldo made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League this season. In doing so, he equalled Ryan Giggs’s tally of 18 consecutive seasons playing in the competition and now has Iker Casillas’ record of 20 in his sights.
Welsh winger Giggs played 19 different seasons of Champions League football in total, all for Manchester United. However, alongside teammate Paul Scholes, the Red Devils’ failure to qualify for the 1995/96 competition means that they didn’t manage their total tallies in consecutive campaigns.
The Bayern Juggernaut Rumbles On:
As we all know them to be the grand masters of the ucl, Bayern Munich have started the 2020/21 UCL campaign as they finished the last – beating anyone that crosses their path.
Their current 14-game winning run is the longest ever seen in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League and they have extended the already record-breaking 11-game run they secured last season, adding three more victories this term.
Bayern have already scored 12 goals in 2020/21 and need to score 12 more in their final three Group Stage games to equal their record of 24 goals at this stage in 2019/20. The all-time record for Group Stage goals in the Champions League is Paris Saint-Germain’s tally of 25 in 2017/18 and it looks like that could come under threat again this season.
Players with the same amount of goals are ranked by fewer minutes played.
Position Player Goals
1st Erling Haaland 8
2nd Neymar 6
2rd Marcus Rashford 6
2th Alvaro Morata 6
5th Olivier Giroud 5
5th Ciro Immobile 5
5th Alassane Plea 5
5th Kylian Mbappe 5
5th Olivier Giroud 5
5th Ciro Immobile 5
6th Diogo Jota 4
6th Christiano Ronaldo 4
6th Lionel Messi 4
Now lets talk about who you think will proceed to the next:
Per my analysis, i see PSG qualifying to the next stage of the competition since barcelona have been out of form for the past games i dont see a likely comeback this time. Juventus on the otherside have a good chance of qualifying sice their goal margin against Porto was minimal. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and ATL for me will also qualify.