UEFA Champions League: 2022/23 group stage in numbers
Sunday, January 1, 2023
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UEFA.com pores over the pick of the facts and stats from another season of firsts and landmarks in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
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3 Club Brugge won three successive Champions League matches for the first time and became the first Belgian club to win their opening three group-stage games. Elsewhere, Robert Lewandowski became the first player to score a hat-trick for three different teams in the competition – one for Dortmund, four for Bayern and one for Barcelona).
4 Leipzig have tasted victory in their last four Champions League games – the first time they have won four consecutive matches in the competition in their history. By contrast, on Matchday 2, Porto lost a fourth successive Champions League match for the first time ever – they responded with four straight victories to top their group.
5 Atlético are without a win in their last five Champions League matches. That is their longest spell without a victory since a nine-game winless streak from December 2008 to December 2009.
6 Bayern won all six matches in the Champions League group stage for the third time – all in the last four seasons. They became the first team to achieve the feat on three occasions.
7 Mohamed Salah notched the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history on Matchday 4, scoring three goals in under seven minutes in Liverpool's 7-1 triumph at Rangers. Elsewhere in Glasgow, Celtic have not scored a goal on Matchday 1 in their last seven Champions League group stage campaigns.
10 On Matchday 3, Erling Haaland scored two or more goals in a Champions League game for the tenth time – in just his 22nd game.
15 On Matchday 4, Alexis Sánchez became the all-time top Chilean goalscorer in the Champions League, moving alongside Arturo Vidal on 15 goals.
16 Sadio Mané has finished on the winning team in each of the last 16 Champions League matches in which he has scored. The last time he found the net but failed to win was the 2018 final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
17 Manchester City's Rico Lewis (17 years and 346 days) became the youngest player to score in the Champions League on his first start in the competition, breaking Karim Benzema's record for Lyon against Rosenborg in 2005 by six days, while Club Brugge's Antonio Nusa (17 years and 149 days) became the second youngest goalscorer in the Champions League behind Barcelona's Ansu Fati.
18 Lionel Messi became the first player to score in 18 successive Champions League seasons, moving ahead of Karim Benzema (17).
19 Bayern have now won their opening match in each of their last 19 Champions League campaigns since a 3-2 defeat at home to Deportivo in September 2002. They have kept 17 clean sheets in those 19 games.
20 Napoli were the top scorers in the group stage with 20 goals and became the first Italian team to score 20 times in a Champions League group.
24 None of Marseille's last 24 Champions League matches have finished in a draw. Their last stalemate in the competition was a 0-0 draw at Arsenal in November 2011. Leipzig, meanwhile, have played 36 matches in the Champions League in their history but none have ever ended in a goalless draw.
25 Erling Haaland (22 years and 47 days) became the youngest player to score 25 Champions League goals, beating Kylian Mbappé's previous record by 33 days. It took him just 20 matches to reach the tally, besting the previous landmark set by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Filippo Inzaghi (30 games).
34 Bayern extended their competition record unbeaten run in the group stage to 34 matches (W31 D3) – and they have scored in all 34 of those games. They have won the last 13, which is also a record.
36 Manchester City have scored in all 36 home matches they have played in the Champions League group stage. Bayern, though, have now found the net in 40 consecutive home games in the group stage, a run dating back to November 2009.
37 Luka Modrić (37 years and 54 days) became the fifth oldest goalscorer in Champions League history when he struck for Real Madrid against Celtic on Matchday 6.
40 Paris striker Kylian Mbappé (23 years and 317 days) became the youngest player to score 40 Champions League goals, breaking the previous record set by Lionel Messi (24 years and 130 days).
44 Paris have now scored in their last 44 Champions League group stage matches, since a 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid in November 2015.
47 Chelsea defender Thiago Silva became the 47th player to make 100 Champions League appearances, reaching the landmark in his team's Matchday 4 encounter with AC Milan.
62 On Matchday 5, Olivier Giroud became the 62nd player to reach 20 Champions League goals. However, at the age of 36 years and 25 days he became the oldest player to reach that total.
74 Frankfurt's Djibril Sow covered 74km of ground across his six appearances – the most of any player in the group stage.
83 Real Madrid's Toni Kroos made 83 passes into the attacking third of the field in his six games – an astonishing 23 more than any other player across the group stage.
100 Chelsea's victory against Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 6 was their 100th in the Champions League era. They became the sixth team to reach that landmark.
114 Real Madrid registered more shots than any other side in the group stage, racking up 114 across their six games. Bayern (106) were fourth on that list but they had the most shots on target with 51.
296 Frankfurt won possession 296 times during the group stage – at least 18 more ball recoveries than any other side.
304 There were 304 goals scored during the entire group stage (seven more than last season), an average of 3.17 goals per match.
Statistics do not include qualifying unless stated.