The UEFA Champions League has seen a cracker of a quarterfinal round this season. Real Madrid's dramatic win at Manchester City saw them remind Europe who the gold standard is when it comes to this competition, Bayern Munich's veterans gave inexperienced Arsenal a painful UCL lesson, Kylian Mbappe and PSG sat back and watched Barcelona completely implode, while Borussia Dortmund took it in turns to dig deep and go all out to beat Atletico Madrid. The semis will now see Madrid take on Bayern while Dortmund face PSG.
Before that, though, By The Numbers has a look at the best numbers from the second-leg of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals:
1, 9
Manchester City's elimination means that Real Madrid remains the only club to defend the title successfully in the UCL era (3 straight 2015-16 to 2017-18). This is actually the 9th time that the defending UCL champion has been eliminated in the quarterfinals: the most common round of elimination.
4
This is the first time in four years (since 2019-20) that no Premier League club have advanced to the UCL semifinals
3
No team have eliminated Barcelona more times than PSG in the UCL era. (3 times - in the quarter-finals in 1994-95, in the round of 16 in 2020-21, and this time around). PSG are also the only team to score 4 away UCL goals against Barca... and they've now done it twice (also on 16 Feb, 2021 at Camp Nou).
3
Carlo Ancelotti is the first head coach to eliminate Pep Guardiola from the UCL three times.
4
It may have come in a losing effort, but Kevin De Bruyne has now scored 4 UCL goals against Real Madrid. Only Robert Lewandowski (6), Alessandro Del Piero (5) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (5) have scored more in the UCL era.
4, 17
Real Madrid have now advanced to their 4th UCL semifinal in a row. It's also their record-extending 17th appearance at that stage. In outright second place are Bayern Munich with 13, as they broke a tie with Barcelona for second most all time on Wednesday.
5
Arsenal's 5 eliminations vs Bayern are the most meetings without ever eliminating an opponent in UCL knockout (KO) stage history. In fact, only Real Madrid (6 v Bayern) have eliminated a single opponent more times in knockout ties in the competition.
10
Speaking of Madrid vs Bayern: Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will meet in UCL KO stage for the 10th time (this being their 19th and 20th games); no teams have been paired together more times in the UCL KO stages.
6
This is a quite remarkable stat. This was the 6th time that Real Madrid faced the defending UCL winner in a KO stage... they've advanced all six times. That's at least twice as often as any other side in the competition's history.
10
Carlo Ancelotti has now reached the UCL semifinals for a 10th time as head coach, tying Pep Guardiola for the most in the UCL era by a head coach.
15
Kylian Mbappe has now scored 15 career away UCL KO stage goals, passing Karim Benzema for the 2nd most in UCL history. Since you asked Cristiano Ronaldo is first with 23, and Lionel Messi fourth with 12.
16
What a performer Rodrygo is. He has now scored 16 go-ahead goals over the last 2 seasons, more than any other Real Madrid player in that span in all competitions (Vinícius 14, Benzema 11, Bellingham 10).
31
Joshua Kimmich's goal was the 31st scored in this season's UCL quarterfinals, now the most goals scored at this stage in any season in the competition.
33%
:Barcelona had 33% possession vs Paris Saint-Germain in this second leg. That is the club's lowest possession in a game since at least the 2013-14 season.
58
Manuel Neuer has now kept his 58th clean sheet in UCL, the most ever. Right behind him are two other legendary keepers: Iker Casillas (57) and Gianluigi Buffon (52). Neuer reached the mark in 138 matches, while Casillas had it in 177, and Buffon in 124