Chelsea are about to take on Bayern Munich in Germany in the long awaited second leg of their Champions League second round tie, and there are two very interested stats in play.
The first has to do with the scale of the task facing Frank Lampard and his team. OPTA pointed out that in the entire history of the European Cup and Champions League, nobody has ever done what Chelsea need to do – come back from 3 goals down away from home.
0 – In the entire history of the European Cup and Champions League, no team has ever won by three or more goals in the first leg of a knockout match away from home and failed to progress, going through on all 92 previous occasions. Task. pic.twitter.com/wFhOPlYkn3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 8, 2020
That’s pretty ominous, and one can tell why Frank Lampard is seeing this in part as a kind of dead rubber.
Injuries mean he’s hardly got much room to manoeuvre in his team selection, but the XI he’s ended up with has also broken a notable record – his side are the first to ever field 3 English U21 players in a knockout game.
3 – Chelsea are the first team in Champions League history to start three Englishmen aged 21 or younger in a knockout match. Cubs. pic.twitter.com/pvqWsSRNAm
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 8, 2020
That may be a product of the situation, but it’s still an impressive record to have – let’s hope it’s the first of many times these three play together in Europe.
