British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
British teams were once feared for their aerial power in the penalty area. In a sign of how times have changed, while there was a clear tendency for teams to deliver from out wide, the four teams for whom crosses made up the lowest percentage of all their passes into the box were Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and Arsenal (Aston Villa weren’t too far off either). Not so Atalanta, who scored 12 of their 22 goals through balls whipped in from the flanks.
There were 618 goals scored in 2024/25, translating to a rate of 3.27 goals per match – the highest rate in the Champions League era. Not a single match from the last 16 onwards finished scoreless and there were 27 comeback victories, including five occasions when a team recovered from two goals down to win.
Some 16% of goals were scored by substitutes, 99
in all. Crvena Zvezda alone managed seven, including three from Nemanja Radonjić, who struck within two minutes of his introduction against Stuttgart (one of his two goals that night) and repeated the trick with another goal seven minutes after taking the field at AC Milan. Atlético de Madrid’s Ángel Correa scored his three goals from minute 85 onwards.
The cutback or low cross has become an effective response to increasingly congested penalty areas. Three of the five goals in the final came from first-touch finishes, which proved to be the most popular way to score overall, accounting for 56% of goals. Paris Saint-Germain scored 17 times through these quick-fire strikes – more than any other club.
Barcelona’s Raphinha ended the season tied on 13 goals with Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy at the top of the scoring chart and also led assists for the season with nine. The Brazilian’s superb finishing meant he conjured his 13 goals from situations with an xG of just 4.9 – a difference of +8.1. No other player in the competition managed better than +4.5.
Amounting to 16% of the total goals scored, there were 97 set-play finishes in 2024/25. When adding to that the 52 penalties scored, the share of goals outside of open play rises to 24%. The most productive team were PSV, whose eight goals from dead-ball situations represented 35% of their 23 scored. Liverpool and newcomers Brest were the only sides to boast a faultless set-piece defensive record.
You wait 338 professional matches to score a direct free-kick, then a couple come almost at once. Arsenal’s Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid twice in 13 minutes in their quarter-final first leg – a first for a Champions League knockout fixture. They were two of only 13 goals from direct free-kicks.
“Ousmane Dembélé ran for three players,” said Luis Enrique after the final. The centre-forward ranked first for Paris for pressing actions in the final third, managing the most sprints and topping the total sprint distance. Yet it was Barcelona whose high press was most effective – 22 of their 43 goals came from winning the ball in opposition territory.
This competition places physical demands on every player, but holding midfielders (or pivots or No6s) are the running men: they covered the most distance, at
an average of around 11.33km per match. Salzburg midfielder Mads Bidstrup led the pack for distance covered in a single 90-minute clash, running
13.94km in their league phase fixture at Real Madrid, followed closely by Celtic’s Callum McGregor (13.89km) and Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich (13.79km).
