PSG, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and Atletico Madrid are this season’s Champions League semi-finalists as they prepare for the first-legs this week.
First up, we have PSG at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, followed by Arsenal’s trip to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Read on for the best of the potential stats for this two high-profile games, as well as stats from the four semi-finals in this week’s Europa League and Conference League, which feature Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, and Crystal Palace.
Stats you might see
PSG vs Bayern Munich
- Luis Enrique could reach 50 Champions League wins quicker than any other manager in history (currently 49 wins in 76 games).
- Vincent Kompany could become the first manager to beat Luis Enrique three times in the Champions League.
- Harry Kane could become the first English player to score in six successive Champions League matches.
The Parc des Princes hosts a blockbuster semi-final between the Champions League’s joint top scorers this season, both on 38 goals, setting the stage for what could be a high-scoring encounter.
PSG boss Luis Enrique has the chance to become the fastest manager to accumulate 50 Champions League wins – currently 49 wins in 76 games – as he bids to surpass Pep Guardiola’s lightning fast record of 50 wins in 80 games.
However, history is not on PSG’s side in this fixture. They have lost each of their last five Champions League meetings with Bayern Munich, including a 2-1 defeat at home earlier this season. Bayern manager Vincent Kompany has also won both of his UCL meetings with Luis Enrique and could become the first manager to topple him three times in the competition.
Golden Boot contender Harry Kane, already on 12 Champions League goals this season, is aiming to become the first English player to score in six consecutive appearances in the competition.
Meanwhile, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (8 goals, 5 assists) is chasing Ousmane Dembele’s club record of 14 goal involvements in a single Champions League campaign, which was set last season.
Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal
- Arsenal can match their European Cup/Champions League club record of 13 games unbeaten, which was set between March 2005 and April 2026.
- Arsenal could become the first English side to win a Champions League knockout stage match away to Atletico Madrid, with Chelsea, Leicester City, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City & Tottenham all failing to do so.
Either Arsenal or Atletico Madrid will book a place in this season’s Champions League final. The two clubs have agonisingly played more matches in European Cup/Champions League history without ever lifting the trophy: 223 for Arsenal and 190 for Atletico.
Arsenal are the only unbeaten side in this season’s Champions League, winning 10 and drawing two of their 12 matches, and are now just one game short of matching their longest ever unbeaten run in the competition (13 games between March 2005 and April 2006).
The Gunners boast an impressive record against Spanish opposition, winning their last seven Champions League meetings, including a 4-0 at home to Atletico earlier this season, which is Atletico’s joint-heaviest defeat in the competition.
Arsenal now have the chance to become the first English side to win a Champions League knockout match away at Atletico, with Chelsea, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Tottenham all failing to do so at either the Vicente Calderón or Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
Atletico overcame Barcelona in the quarter-finals and have in their ranks Julian Alvarez, who has nine goals to his name in the competition this season; the most by an Atlético player in a single campaign. The former Man City star heads into the semi-final first-leg with five goals in his last six UCL games, including a brace at home to Spurs.
Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa
- Aston Villa can become only the second ever English club to win 10 straight European games after Manchester City (2023 to 2024).
Over to the Europa League now where we have an all-Premier League clash between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, in what will be the first major European semi-final between two English teams since Arsenal and Manchester United locked horns in the last-four of the 2008-09 Champions League.
Unai Emery, a record four-time winner of the competition, is gearing up for his seventh Europa League semi-final since 2009-10; four more than any other manager. His Aston Villa side are chasing history as the aim to become just the second English club to win 10 consecutive European matches, after Manchester City between May 2023 and March 2024.
Up front, Villa’s Ollie Watkins, with four goals and one assist in his last four games, could become the first English player since Wayne Rooney to register a goal involvement in five straight Europa League games. Meanwhile, no player has scored more Europa League goals than Forest’s Igor Jesus (7) so far this season.
Sporting Braga vs Freiburg
- If Vincenzo Grifo (currently on 10 goals and six assists) registers two goal involvements in this match, he will move level for the most combined goals and assists in the Europa League since the 2022/23 season.
The second Europa League semi-final sees Braga take on Freiburg in the first-ever European meeting between the two clubs. Braga are featuring in just their second major European semi-final, while Freiburg have reached this stage for the very first time in their history.
Freiburg head to Portugal in red-hot form, having scored 11 goals across their last three Europa League matches. Winger Vincenzo Grifo has been central to that run, contributing two goals and two assists in those three games, taking his overall tally in the competition to 10 goals and six assists in 30 appearances: since the 2022/23 season, only Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini has more direct goal involvements, with 18.
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr is looking to score for the eighth time in 11 Conference League appearances this season.
Crystal Palace will be looking to become the third English club in the last four seasons to reach the Conference League final – after West Ham and Chelsea – when they lock horns with Shakhtar Donetsk, starting with Thursday’s first-leg in Poland.
Palace’s Ismaila Sarr is in the running for the Golden Boot with seven goals to date, just one less than joint-leaders Marius Mouandilmadji and Mikael Ishak, who have both exited the competition.
Sarr has fired in four of these seven goals in his last three games in the competition, scoring a brace in the second-leg against AEK Larnaca, and then a goal in each of the quarter-final clashes against Fiorentina.
Rayo Vallecano vs Strasbourg
- Strasbourg manager Gary O’Neil will become the first Englishman to take charge of a major European semi-final since Roy Hodgson at Fulham in the 2009-10 Europa League season.
There may be four English sides still remaining in Europe’s three competitions, but there’s only one English manager left standing.
Step forward Strasbourg’s Gary O’Neil, the former Wolves and Bournemouth boss, who this week will become the first Englishman to manage in a major European semi-final since Roy Hodgson at Fulham in the 2009-10 Europa League semi-final.
