Competition facts

UEFA Champions League: Did you know?

Overall records
• In 2016/17 Real Madrid became the first team to successfully defend the UEFA Champions League trophy, with AC Milan (1989, 1990) the previous club to win consecutive European Cups. Milan (1994, 1995), Ajax (1995, 1996), Juventus (1996, 1997) and Manchester United (2008, 2009) have all returned to the UEFA Champions League final as holders only to lose.

• Real Madrid then made it three wins in a row in 2017/18, becoming the fourth club to win three or more successive titles in European Cup history, and the first to do it twice.

• Only two teams have ever won the UEFA Champions League on home soil: Borussia Dortmund (1997, final in Munich) and Juventus (1996, final in Rome), while Manchester United lost the 2011 final in London and 12 months later Bayern were beaten in the showpiece in their own stadium, the Fußball Arena München.

Knockout stage
• Real Madrid have qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout phase a record 24 times, including 23 in succession. They have also played a competition-high 97 knockout phase matches – ahead of Bayern München (91) and Barcelona (90).

• Teams have overturned a first-leg deficit to go through 48 times, including six in 2018/19 – a competition record.

• Before last season, only twice – Ajax's defeat of Panathinaikos in the 1995/96 semi-finals and Internazionale's victory against Bayern in the 2010/11 round of 16 – had a side progressed after a home first-leg loss. However, Ajax again (against Real Madrid) and Manchester United (against Paris Saint-Germain) both achieved the feat in the 2018/19 round of 16 before Tottenham (against Ajax) did likewise in the semi-finals.

• The biggest losing margin a side has overhauled was achieved by Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2016/17 last 16, when they lost 4-0 away but progressed thanks to a 6-1 home success. That eclipsed the previous record held by Deportivo La Coruña in the 2003/04 quarter-finals, when they went down 4-1 at AC Milan but won 4-0 at home; Roma equalled that margin in the 2017/18 quarter-finals, turning round a 4-1 first-leg loss at Barcelona with a 3-0 home success, while in the 2018/19 semi-finals Liverpool lost 3-0 in the first leg at Barcelona but went through after a 4-0 home victory.

• Thirty-three ties have been decided on away goals, including 13 where the triumphant team lost the first leg. Bayern and Monaco have benefited from the away goals rule five times – more than any other club – whereas Internazionale have been eliminated by that method a record four times.

• In all, 29 ties have required extra time. Thirteen have been settled by extra time alone: six round of 16 encounters including Porto-Roma in 2018/19, five quarter-finals, the 2007/08 semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool, and the 2013/14 final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.

• Sixteen ties have gone to penalties, including seven finals – 1996, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016. The first two-legged tie decided on spot kicks was PSV Eindhoven's 4-2 victory over Lyon on 13 April 2005 after a 2-2 aggregate draw, still the only quarter-final to go to penalties. Bayern, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid have all appeared in three shoot-outs, sharing the competition record, with Bayern, Atlético and Liverpool having won the most (two apiece).

• The 2015/16 round of 16 tie between Atlético Madrid and PSV was the first to finish goalless after two legs. Thirteen have finished 1-0 on aggregate, most recently Real Madrid's defeat of Manchester City in the 2015/16 semi-finals.

• Liverpool (versus Porto) and Bayern (versus Beşiktaş) both won 5-0 in the 2017/18 round of 16, equalling the knockout phase record for the biggest first-leg lead – Real Madrid's 6-1 victory at Schalke in 2013/14 and Bayern's 5-0 success at Sporting CP in 2008/09, both also in the round of 16.

• Bayern eventually beat Sporting by a record aggregate margin of 12-1 after a 7-1 stroll in the home second leg; that tie also featured more goals (13) over its two legs than any UEFA Champions League knockout tie until it was equalled by Liverpool's 7-6 aggregate win against Roma in the 2017/18 semi-final.

• Bayern and Manchester City jointly hold the record for the largest margin of victory in a UEFA Champions League knockout match. Bayern beat both Basel (2011/12) and Shakhtar Donetsk (2014/15) 7-0 in the round of 16 second leg, while City beat Schalke by the same scoreline at the same stage of the 2018/19 competition.

• A record five clubs from England participated in the 2017/18 knockout phase. Including 2019/20, England has also provided four clubs on eight other occasions – as has Spain five times and Germany twice. England is the only nation to have provided four quarter-finalists in a season, 2018/19 being the third occasion after 2007/08 and 2008/09.

• Clarence Seedorf is the only player to lift the European Cup with three clubs (Ajax 1995, Real Madrid 1998, Milan 2003, 2007). Bob Paisley (Liverpool 1977, 1978, 1981) was the first coach to win three times, a feat Carlo Ancelotti (Milan 2003, 2007, Real Madrid 2014) and Zinédine Zidane (2016, 2017, 2018) have replicated.

• In 2014 Ancelotti also became the fifth coach to win the trophy with two clubs; Ottmar Hitzfeld (Borussia Dortmund 1997, Bayern 2001), Ernst Happel (Feyenoord 1970, Hamburg 1983), José Mourinho (Porto 2004, Internazionale 2010) and Jupp Heynckes (Real Madrid 1998, Bayern 2013) had previously achieved the feat.

Goalscoring records
• Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a match in Barcelona's 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen on 7 March 2012, a feat matched by Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano at BATE Borisov on 21 October 2014. Eleven more players, also including Messi, have scored four times in a game, most recently Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid on Matchday 6 in 2015/16.

• Cristiano Ronaldo set a new record for a UEFA Champions League group stage with 11 goals in 2015/16, eclipsing his own mark of nine in 2013/14, which Luiz Adriano matched in 2014/15 and Ronaldo himself equalled in 2017/18. Lionel Messi got ten goals in 2016/17; Zlatan Ibrahimović (2013/14), Ruud van Nistelrooy (2004/05), Filippo Inzaghi, Hernán Crespo (both 2002/03) and Robert Lewandowski (2018/19) managed eight.

• Messi's hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 1 of the 2018/19 competition was his eighth in the competition, a mark Ronaldo matched against Atlético Madrid in that season's round of 16 second leg.

Oldest and youngest players
• Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta is the oldest player to compete in the UEFA Champions League having featured against Real Madrid on Matchday 6 in 2007/08 aged 43 years and 252 days. Alessandro Costacurta is the oldest outfield player; the Milan defender was 40 years and 211 days when he played against AEK Athens in 2006/07.

• Francesco Totti is the oldest player to score in the competition, aged 38 years and 59 days, in Roma's 1-1 draw at CSKA Moskva on 25 November 2014. Ryan Giggs (37 years 290 days) was the previous record holder.

• Celestine Babayaro is the youngest player to have appeared; he was 16 years and 87 days when he started for Anderlecht against Steaua Bucureşti on 23 November 1994. He was sent off in the 37th minute.

• Ansu Fati's winner for Barcelona at Inter on Matchday 6 in 2019/20 made him the youngest goalscorer in UEFA Champions League history, at the age of 17 years 40 days. He eclipsed the previous record of Olympiacos's Peter Ofori-Quaye (17 years 195 days) that had lasted since 1 October 1997.