by Salzburg will have to do what no other Austrian team has done before at AC Milan to qualify for the round of 16 of the Champions League, while Jude Bellingham has his sights set on a goal managed by just two players previously.
The Rossoneri are just one point away from the San Siro match and historical facts suggest that they will be able to reach the goal of leaving Group E.
For Bellingham, he can put his name in the record books alongside former teammate Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe by scoring for Borussia Dortmund in Copenhagen.
There is a lot to play for as the Champions League group stage concludes on Wednesday and Stats Perform analyzed the data to shed some light on the most interesting corners.
Milan-Salzburg
With a win, Salzburg will advance to the knockout stage for the second straight season having never been out of the group stage before.
They will have to challenge the odds on their trip to Milan, where the Italian team are unbeaten in home games against Austrian opponents in the competition (W4 D1), averaging 3.8 goals per game.
Salzburg have never beaten AC Milan in their three previous Champions League matches, but after losing the first two, they picked up the first point with a 1-1 draw in this season’s first leg.
While Olivier Giroud became the oldest player in Champions League history to reach 20 goals (36) during AC Milan’s win at Dinamo Zagreb last time, Salzburg boast the eleventh-youngest starter in the competition with a ‘ mean age of 22 years and 279 days.
Shakhtar Donetsk – RB Leipzig
Shakhtar have only won one match in the group stage, but are three points behind second place. A win would take them to the knockout stage for the third time in the past four seasons.
The reverse match was memorable for Shakhtar and exciting young winger Mykhailo Mudryk, who showed why he is so in demand with one goal and two assists in a 4-1 away win.
Unfortunately for the Ukrainian side, that was the only victory in their last 12 Champions League games (D6 L5).
Meanwhile, Leipzig found some form in the competition, with consecutive victories against Celtic before taking three straight wins when they beat Real Madrid 3-2.
Manchester City-Seville
City are unbeaten in the group stage when they host Sevilla, having conceded only one goal in total in their five games to date.
English sides have been troubling Sevilla for years now, with their last Champions League victory against a Premier League side in 2007 against Arsenal.
If Jorge Sampaoli’s side are to have any chance of a shocking victory, they will have to pay particular attention to Jack Grealish, who impressed in the group stage with 10 chances created from open play, the most in Pep Guardiola’s squad.
Maccabi Haifa-Benfica
If Juventus manage to save even a draw in the clash with Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica will be able to win Group H by beating Maccabi Haifa.
It was a period of special form for Benfica, who for the first time since 1990 played six Champions League games without defeat (W3 D3).
Maccabi will have their backs to the wall, as only Malmo have a worse win rate (17%) compared to 24% among teams that have played at least 15 Champions League matches.
In favor of Benfica there is also the record of coach Roger Schmidt in the competition. Between his time with Bayer Leverkusen (2014-2017) and Benfica this season, his streak of 13 unbeaten games is the highest of any active manager qualified for this season’s Champions League.
Other appliances:
Juventus-Paris Saint Germain
5 – Juventus are trying to avoid becoming the second Italian team to lose five games in a Champions League group stage, after Roma in 2004-05.
6 – Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe scored six goals in the group stage. With one more he can equal Christopher Nkunku (last season) for the most by a French player in a single group stage, while with two others he can equalize Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s club record of eight in 2013-14.
Copenhagen-Borussia Dortmund
60 – Although Copenhagen are still winless in Group G, they have kept a clean sheet in 60% (nine out of 15) of their Champions League home games, the best ratio of any team with at least 10 appearances.
3 – With one goal, Bellingham can become only the third teenager to have scored in all three away matches in a Champions League group stage, after Mbappe (2017-18) and Haaland (2019-20).
Chelsea-Dinamo Zagreb
10 – Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 10 Champions League group stage games dating back to September 2019 (W6 D4). During that time, they averaged 2.3 goals per game.
10 – Along with City’s Grealish, Chelsea’s Mason Mount is the only other Premier League player in this Champions League campaign to score at least 10 shots and 10 chances created.
Real Madrid versus Celtic
20 – Since the start of the last Champions League, no player has been involved in multiple open game sequences that have resulted in a goal from Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior (20).
14 – Celtic’s Matt O’Riley has had the most Champions League shots this season without scoring, scoring in his 14 shots.
