We waited for two long months. Now, the fight for the best club in Europe will continue with the matches of the eighth-finals of the Champions League, and the first clash of the titans awaits us tomorrow in which Paris Saint-Germain host Real Madrid at the Parc de Princes. Of course, all football fans will have their favorites, and when the best ones meet each other, it is only certain that – nothing is for certain.23.02. Wed 23:00: (2.55) Atl.Madrid (3.15) Man.Utd. (2.85)There are many elements from the group stage of the competition that can be used for further analysis. And what do they show? Respectable Spanish Marca did a lot of research in which they discovered which teams were the most dominant in certain football segments. True, all this should be taken with a grain of salt, because not everyone had the same rivals, nor did they invest themselves as much as they really could in some matches, but we can draw some guidelines.Tue 23:00: (10.5) Sporting (5.80) Man.City (1.32)For example, only three clubs (Ajax, Bayern and Liverpool) finished the group stage with all six victories, Bayern being the most dominant since they topped the group with Barcelona, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv with a goal difference of +19. The Bavarians are followed by Ajax (+15), then Liverpool and Real Madrid (+11), while Atletico (-1) and Benfica (-2) are at the very bottom of the participants in the eighth-finals when it comes to the goal tally.Tue 23:00: (2.10) PSG (3.50) Real Madrid (3.80)Liverpool ran the most (177.90 kilometers per game when we add up all the players), followed by other English teams: Manchester United (174.79 km), Chelsea (170.50) and Manchester City (159.29). Salzburg sweated the least – “only” 125.20 kilometers.However, Salzburg are second on the list when it comes to interceptions, right behind the Lille and ahead of Ajax, Juventus and Bayern. When it comes to possession of the ball, Chelsea are the only ones that went over 60 with 62.5 percent – followed by Liverpool, Ajax, City and Bayern. Man City are, as expected, first in terms of passing accuracy (90.20 percent), followed by Real Madrid (90), PSG and Bayern (85.5).Wed 23:00: (8.00) Salzburg (5.30) Bayern (1.40)Inter Milan (117), Real Madrid (110), Man City (108), Bayern (107) and Liverpool (104) stand out in terms of the number of shots, while – here is a complete surprise – Paris Saint-Germain are 15th with 58 shots, one more than Benfica?!Ajax’s Ivorian Sebastian Haller leads the scorer’s list with 10 goals in the group stage, ahead of Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski (9), and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig, who scored seven each.Wed 23:00: (3.35) Inter (3.50) Liverpool (2.25)Bruno Fernandez (6) from Manchester United is the best assistant in the Champions League so far, Ajax’s Anthony has five, while Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern’s Leroy Sane collected four.Salzburg’s Brenden Aronson is the ‘Iron Man’ of the group stages with 78.2 kilometers ran so far, and the fact that his teammate Nicholas Seiwald is second with 69.1 tells a lot about the Austrian team and their training sessions. There is also Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberg with 68.8 kilometers, and Villareal’s Dani Parejo (67.9)…22.02. Tue 23:00: (1.37) Chelsea (4.80) Lille (8.50)Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr is the best dribbler with 41 take-ons, while second-placed Moumi Ngamaleu from Young Boys follows with 34. Then come Mbappe (32), Bayern’s Kingsley Coman (31), Villarreal’s Arnaut Danjuma (25). Neymar, Brahim Diaz and Karim Adeyemi have 19 take-ons each.Sevilla’s Fernando (51) de-possessed his opponents the most, then Reinildo (49), who moved from Lille to Atletico Madrid this January, there is also another Sevilla defender Jules Kounde (48), then Real Madrid’s Eder Militao (45)…22.02. Tue 23:00: (2.70) Villareal (3.10) Juventus (2.75)Sheriff Tiraspol goalkeeper Atanasidis stood out with 29 saves, Club Brugge’s Simon Mignolet had one less, Vlachodimos from Benfica and Real’s Thibaut Courtois finished the first part of the competition with 22 saves on their gloves.Riyad Marez (24) made most shots, Inter Milan’s Edin Dzeko and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema had 23 each while Duvan Zapata from Atalanta tried 22 times.23.02. Wed 23:00: (3.50) Benfica (3.45) Ajax (2.10)
