​Villarreal – Liverpool

(0-2 on aggregate)

3 May 2022

• Villarreal have lost two of their three meetings with Liverpool in European competition, although their one victory over the Reds did come in their only previous clash on home soil, in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League semi-finals (1-0). The Yellow Submarine netted a 90th-minute winner through Adrián López.
• Following their 2-0 victory in the first leg at Anfield, Liverpool could win both legs of a knockout stage tie against Spanish opposition in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for only the second time – previously doing so in 2008-09 against Real Madrid (1-0 away and 4-0 at home in the Last 16).
• To qualify for this season’s final, Villarreal will have to become only the second team to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg of a UEFA Champions League semi-final. Opponents Liverpool are the only side to have lost a first leg by 2+ goals and still progressed from the tie, beating Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in 2018-19 (0-3 away and 4-0 at home).
• Liverpool are aiming to reach their 10th European Cup/UEFA Champions League final, which would see them become only the fourth side to reach double figures for final appearances, after Real Madrid (16), Bayern Munich (11) and AC Milan (11). The Reds’ current tally of nine is already the most by any English side.
• Villarreal are unbeaten at home in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages, although they have only won two of their seven such games (D5). Indeed, these seven games have seen just 10 goals scored in total, with neither side managing to score more than once on any occasion.
• Liverpool have won all five of their away games in the UEFA Champions League this season, scoring 15 goals and only conceding five. Should they win here, Jürgen Klopp’s side would have played the most away games while maintaining a 100% record by any team in a single European Cup/UEFA Champions League campaign.
• Villarreal attempted only one shot and failed to hit the target in the first leg at Anfield. The last team to fail to record a shot on target across two legs of a UEFA Champions League semi-final was Deportivo de La Coruña in 2003-04, against José Mourinho’s FC Porto.
• Liverpool recorded 22 high turnovers against Villarreal in the first leg (sequences of play that begin within 40 metres of the opposition goal); the most by a team in a knockout stage game in the UEFA Champions League this season. It was also the most Liverpool have ever made in a game in the competition under Jürgen Klopp.
• Villarreal’s Arnaut Danjuma has been directly involved in seven goals in the UEFA Champions League this season (six goals, one assist). The last Dutch player to contribute more in a single campaign in the competition was Arjen Robben in 2013-14 (4 goals, 4 assists), while playing for Bayern Munich.
• Sadio Mané has scored 14 goals for Liverpool in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, including one in the first leg against Villarreal. He is now just one goal shy of equalling Frank Lampard’s record for most goals scored for an English team in the knockout stages of the competition (15 for Chelsea).

Real Madrid – Manchester City

(3-4 on aggregate)

4 May 2022

• The first leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid was only the second semi-final first leg in UEFA Champions League history to see seven goals scored, along with Liverpool 5-2 Roma in 2017-18. Only two semi-finals have seen 10 or more goals scored over the two legs: Juventus 6-4 Monaco in 1997-98 and Liverpool 7-6 Roma in 2017-18.
• Manchester City have won their last three UEFA Champions League matches against Real Madrid; only two sides have ever won four in a row against them in European competition, with Ajax doing so between 1973 and 1995 and Bayern Munich between 2000 and 2002.
• Manchester City have progressed in nine of the previous 10 UEFA Champions League two-legged knockout ties when they’ve won the first leg, only failing in the Last 16 vs Monaco (5-3 first leg, 1-3 second leg).
• Real Madrid have been eliminated in all five previous UEFA Champions League semi-finals when they’ve lost the first leg; however, they have progressed from two of their last three knockout ties when losing the first leg, in the 2015-16 quarter-final vs VfL Wolfsburg and this season’s Last 16 vs Paris Saint-Germain.
• Should Manchester City qualify for the UEFA Champions League final, they will have done so in consecutive seasons, having lost 1-0 to Chelsea in last season’s final. They’ll be the fourth English side to reach consecutive European Cup/Champions League finals, after Liverpool (1977/1978, 1984/1985, 2018/2019), Manchester United (2008/2009) and Nottingham Forest (1979/1980).
• Real Madrid have lost their last two UEFA Champions League matches and have only lost three in a row once before, doing so between February and October 2020, a run which included two defeats to Man City. Current manager Carlo Ancelotti has never lost three matches in a row in the Champions League, with this match his 178th in the competition.
• Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior has created 28 chances in open play in the UEFA Champions League this season, the most by a player since Dusan Tadic in 2018-19 (36) and most by a Los Blancos player since 2010-11 (Mesut Özil, 32). He has also has six open play assists, including four at the Bernabéu: since 2003-04, the only player with more than six in a season is James Milner in 2017-18 for Liverpool (7).
• Kevin De Bruyne has 18 UEFA Champions League assists for Manchester City, the most of any player and behind only Neymar (25) and Kylian Mbappé (20) in the competition since his debut for City in September 2015. De Bruyne scored and assisted in the first leg, one of only two occasions he’s done so in the UEFA Champions League – the other was at the Bernabéu vs Real Madrid in February 2020.
• Man City's Pep Guardiola has won four UEFA Champions League matches against Real Madrid, with only OttmarHitzfeld winning more (7). Two of his wins over Madrid have come at the Bernabeu (2011 with Barcelona, 2020 with Man City) and he could become the first manager to win three away from home there.
• Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema has scored nine UEFA Champions League goals in the knockout stages this season, with only Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016-17 (10) ever scoring more in a single season. Benzema could become the fourth player to score in both legs of the quarter-final and semi-final in a season, after Fernando Morientes (2003-04, Monaco), Neymar (2014-15, Barcelona) and Edin Dzeko (2017-18, Roma).