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Both Bayern Munich and Barcelona marched into the 2014/15 Champions League semi-finals with comfortable wins against FC Porto and Paris Saint-Germain respectively. While Barcelona won 2-0 with a brace from Neymar to help the Catalan club qualify 5-1 on aggregate, Bayern thrashed Porto 6-1 to qualify 7-4 on aggregate.Barcelona never looked threatened and the result was sealed in the first leg itself thanks to three away goals in a 3-1 win. But Bayern Munich had it all to do to overcome a 3-1 deficit and did so in a dominating performance that saw them score 5 goals in the first half!We list a number of records and milestones set during the course of these two matches.Stats taken from Opta, Infostrada and UEFA.
#1 Barcelona
The second leg of the quarter-final match against PSG was Barcelona’s 100th Champions League match at home. Their record in the 100 games played at home reads: Won 70; Drawn 21 and Lost 9. To put things into perspective, 69 wins is equal to the number of matches PSG have played in the Champions League and Champions Cup. Combined!
Neymar’s first goal was also Barcelona’s 1000th goal in all European competitions!
The Catalan club have now reached the Champions League semi-finals for the seventh time in eight seasons – the 11th time in the Champions League era – a new record. This is their 30th semi-final in all European competitions – tied with Real Madrid (who can make it 31 if they beat Atletico Madrid).
#2 Neymar
Neymar’s brace against PSG saw two different milestones set. With his first goal, the Brazilian became the first player to score against the same opponent in FOUR matches in one Champions League season. His final goal tally against PSG is 5 goals – more than any other player in Champions League history!
Barcelona had faced PSG in the group stage before meeting again in the quarter-final. Barcelona had lost 3-2 when they travelled to Paris but Neymar had got on the scoresheet. In the reverse fixture, Barcelona won 3-1 with all three of Messi, Suarez and Neymar scoring a goal each. In the first leg, Neymar had scored the opening goal before Suarez capped the night with a brace.
Neymar also became the second Brazilian to score at least 10 goals in both the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores (10 in UCL and 14 in Copa Lib). The first player to do so was Mario Jardel who won the Copa Libertadores (South American Champions League) with Gremio and also played for Porto, Galatasaray and Sporting Clube de Portugal (25 in UCL and 16 in Copa Lib).
#3 Xavi
Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez came on as a half-time substitute to replace Andres Iniesta and in doing so set a few records in the Champions League. The quarter-final second leg was his 148th match in the Champions League – a new record. He was previously tied with Iker Casillas on 147.
| # | PLAYER | CLUB(S) | APPEARANCES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xavi Hernandez | Barcelona | 148* |
| 2 | Iker Casillas | Real Madrid | 147* |
| 3 | Raul Gonzalez | Real Madrid, Schalke | 142 |
| 4 | Ryan Giggs | Manchester United | 141 |
| 5 | Clarence Seedorf | Ajax, Real Madrid, AC Milan | 125 |
| 6 | Paul Scholes | Manchester United | 124 |
| 7 | Roberto Carlos | Real Madrid, Fenerbahce | 120 |
| 8 | Carles Puyol | Barcelona | 115 |
| 9 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United, Real Madrid | 112* |
| 10 | Thierry Henry | Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona | 112 |
*Active players
This was also Xavi’s 170th match in all European Cups and his 53rd match in the knockout stages of the Champions League – both records!
#4 Pep Guardiola
With the quarter-final second leg mauling of FC Porto, Pep Guardiola has now reached the semi-finals in every season as a manager. This includes four seasons with Barcelona and two with Bayern Munich.
Guardiola had taken over Barcelona in 2008 and reached the semi-finals of the 2008/09 Champions League. In fact, he won the Champions League in his very first season, even leading Barcelona to a historic treble. With Bayern Munich, he took them to the semi-final last season as well but was eventually knocked out by a dominant Real Madrid.
| SEASON | ROUND | RESULT |
|---|---|---|
| 2008/09 | Final | Barcelona 2-0 Man Utd |
| 2009/10 | Semi-Final | Barcelona 2-3 Inter Milan (Agg) |
| 2010/11 | Final | Barcelona 3-1 Man Utd |
| 2011/12 | Semi-Final | Barcelona 2-3 Chelsea (Agg) |
| 2012/13 | SABBATICAL | |
| 2013/14 | Semi-Final | Bayern Munich 0-5 Real Madrid (Agg) |
| 2014/15 | Semi-Final | TBD |
This match, described as a win about ‘life and death’ by Guardiola, was also his 100th game in charge of the Bundesliga club. His record reads: Won 77; Drawn 12 and Lost 11.
#5 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich were under pressure to overturn a 3-1 deficit over Porto and many critics bet on the Portuguese club to knock out the five-time European champions. But the first leg was quickly forgotten within 22 minutes when Thiago Alcantara and Jerome Boateng put the hosts 2-0 up.
By the end of the first half, Robert Lewandowski (two goals) and Thomas Muller had joined the party to make it 5-0 going into the break. In doing so, Bayern Munich became the first club to score 5 goals in the first half of a knockout match in the Champions League!
This is the fifth time a team has scored 5 goals in the first half and it is the third time Bayern Munich have accomplished this feat. The Bavarian club had beaten Shakhtar Donetsk 7-0 in the previous round, but were only 2-0 up at half time.
Bayern are also the first team to score 30 goals in the Champions League this season.
Thomas Muller’s goal was his 27th goal in the Champions League and in doing so he became the top goalscorer among German players in the Champions League, going past former Bayern striker Mario Gomez who has scored 26.
