Top 10 Champions League Records

During the entire existence of the Champions League (until 1992 the tournament was called the European Champions Cup), a huge number of events took place within the framework of the tournament. Some matches, goals or players are so unique that they become records.

Today we look at 10 cool Champions League records, starting in 1992, when the teams began to play in a new format.

10 Most appearances – Iker Casillas

In 2002, when Real Madrid won a strong-willed victory in the final over Bayer Leverkusen thanks to the miracle goal of Zinedine Zidane, the goalkeeper of the “creamy” Iker Casillas was already in his 3rd season in the Champions League.

Then the young Spaniard did not suspect that after 17 years he would still participate in the tournament, but already defending the gates of Porto.

Now on Iker’s account 186 matches, which is 12 more than Paolo Maldini, who is in 2nd place.

Considering that Casillas extended his contract with the Portuguese club in March of this year, he has every chance to reach 200 matches and be sure that his record will not be broken for a long time.

9. Fastest Goal – Roy Mackay

The second leg of the Champions League ⅛ final in 2007 between Bayern and Real Madrid initially promised to be hot, but no one could have imagined that everything would start so quickly.

Already at the 10th second meeting Dutchman Roy Makay opened the scoring, receiving a pass from Hasan Salihamidzic. After such a vigorous start, the Munich club could no longer lose, naturally knocking out the Madrid team from the tournament.

8. Fastest red card – Oleksandr Kucher

And again, the ⅛ finals and Bayern, only now in 2015 and the more modest Donetsk Shakhtar are competing.

Of course, the Germans were clear favorites and no one bet on the Donetsk team, but many expected them to at least try to fight: after all, Shakhtar cannot be called an outsider.

Perhaps the fight would have turned out, but already at the 4th minute meeting, the central defender Oleksandr Kucher openly fouled, for which he received a direct red card and killed all the intrigue at the beginning of the match.

At the end of the meeting, the scoreboard showed the numbers 7:0 in favor of Munich, and the Kucher probably heard a couple of affectionate words from the coach and teammates.

7. Juventus anti-records

The Turin club is primarily known for its bad luck in the Champions League, with which one of the “records” is connected: Juventus 7 times lost in the final. It is unlikely that the team is proud of such an achievement, but the fact remains.

They managed to win the main European trophy only 2 times, and the last time it happened already in 1996. It remains only to wish the guys good luck in the current draw, where they have every chance to reach the final again.

The second dubious achievement of Juventus is record number of red cards. Only in 2001 and 2006, Turintsy received 5 mustard cards per season, so it is not surprising that not a single team even got close to their performance.

6. The youngest and oldest players

Lazio goalkeeper is the oldest player to have played in the Champions League Marco Balotta. In 2007, visiting Real Madrid, he entered the field at the age of 43 years and 252 days.

The youngest is a Nigerian defender Celestine Babayaro, who defended the colors of Anderlecht in 1994 in a match against Steaua. He was only 16 years and 87 days, that is, in fact, he has not yet graduated from school, but made his debut in the main club tournament. The debut, however, turned out to be blurred: at the 37th minute he was sent off the field.

The oldest goal scorer is the “Emperor of Rome» Francesco Tottiwho scored for his native Roma at the age of 38 years and 59 days. It happened in 2014 in a match with CSKA Moscow, where he upset Igor Akinfeev and all Russian fans from a free kick.

5. Biggest win

The biggest win in matches after the preliminary stage is score 8: 0. The first such defeat was arranged by the players Liverpool Turkish “Besiktas” in the season 07/08, and after 8 years the result was repeated “Real”, destroying the Swedish “Malmö” on his field.

If we also take into account the qualifying rounds, here the record belongs to the club “HIK” from the city of Helsinkiwhich in 2011 with a score of 10:0 “carried out” the team “Bangor City” from Wales.

4. Cristianu Ronaldo

This is a man-record, you can’t say otherwise. If in the domestic arena he does not always succeed, and even more so with the national team, then in the Champions League he simply has no equal. No matter how great a player Lionel Messi is, he is very far from Criro in this tournament.

In season 13/14 he scored 17 goals in one draw, breaking his own record, and in total he already has 126 heads. His closest pursuer, Lionel Messi, has 108 of them.

For comparison: after this couple, the great Raul, who scored 3 goals in his career, is in 71rd place. Ronaldo has every chance to double that number.

3. Win Champions League gold with 3 different clubs

As a player, this was only possible Clarence Seedorf, who became the champion first with Ajax in 1995, then with Real Madrid in 1998 and finally with Milan in 2003 and 2007.

Now Ronaldo, who has already won with Manchester United and Real Madrid, has the greatest chances to repeat this achievement, so it remains to win with Juventus.

2. Score 5 goals in one match

Did it first Lionel Messi in 2012 year, when his Barcelona hosted Bayer Leverkusen. The Argentinean’s penta-trick helped to achieve a final score of 7:1.

If we say that this record was later repeated (not broken), then everyone will probably think about Cristiano, but no: Shakhtar Donetsk striker scored 5 goals per match Luis Adriano in the game against BATE, which ended with a score of 7:0.

1. Record number of goals in a season

In the Champions League 1999/00 Spanish Barcelona players scored 45 goals in the main tournament, thus setting a record that has not yet been broken. Only Liverpool and Real Madrid managed to get the closest, with 41 goals each, albeit in different seasons.