What a week this is turning out to be for the football fans! The UEFA Champions League quarter-finals first leg commenced this week, and the games were thrilling, to say the least.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City hosted Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid, who almost put on a defensive masterclass. But one brief moment of magic from Phil Foden allowed Kevin De Bruyne to break the deadlock and give them a 1-0 win. It's advantage Manchester City as the teams look forward to the second leg next week.
Benfica welcomed Jurgen Klopp's rampant Liverpool side to Lisbon. The team from Merseyside took the lead and threatened to run away in the tie, only for them to gift a goal to Benfica. In the end, however, the Reds managed to seize control of the tie via a Luiz Diaz goal, eventually winning 3-1.
Karim Benzema's mercurial talent led Real Madrid to a huge 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London. The Frenchman lit up the tie for Los Blancos with a brilliant hat-trick. The reigning European Champions will have a mountain to climb as they look forward to traveling to Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg.
Meanwhile, Unai Emery's Villarreal sent shockwaves across the world as they beat Bayern Munich while also keeping a clean sheet (1-0). However, Villareal went toe-to-toe with the German giants and should have won by a bigger goal margin.
So, without further ado, here are the best stats from this week's Champions League action:
Best stats from this week's Champions League action:
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid
Benfica vs Liverpool
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
Villareal vs Bayern Munich
Source: WhoScored & Wikipedia