2023-04-19 09:43:24
French club football, it becomes a sad refrain, shines by its absence from the last four of the Champions League. Many of its internationals, past, current or future have, however, obliterated their presence, from this Tuesday evening, at this advanced stage of the event.
Even before the last two quarter-finals, this Wednesday, likely to swell this contingent, in the unlikely event of Bayern qualifying (defeated by City 3-0 in the first leg), there are already 8 In detail, we list the Madrilenians Karim Benzema, Aurélien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy. They are 4, too, in the AC Milan camp with Mike Maignan, Théo Hernandez, Pierre Kalulu and Olivier Giroud.
The latter, best director in the history of the Blues (53), like his partner Maignan or their former team-mate in the France team Karim Benzema have thickened their stats sheets. The proof by the numbers.
36. At 36 years and 200 days, Olivier Giroud, scorer against Naples (1-1), becomes the 2nd oldest French scorer in history in the Champions League behind Laurent Blanc (36 years and 338 days). The current Lyon coach scored this goal on October 23, 2002 with Manchester United against Olympiakos (3-2).
4. Giroud is also the 4th oldest scorer in the history of the C1 in the knockout phase. He is preceded by Ryan Giggs at 37 years and 148 days (in April 2011 against Schalke 04 with Manchester United), Paolo Maldini at 36 years and 333 days and Burak Yilmaz at 36 years and 244 days.
17. End of series for Giroud. The former Chelsea player saw his penalty saved by Alex Meret, the Neapolitan goalkeeper. He had, however, hit the mark in his last 17 attempts at club and selection. At the Maradona stadium, he missed his first penalty since September 26, 2012 with Arsenal against Coventry. In the history of the C1, never had a goalkeeper stopped a penalty from an AC Milan player!
3. In Naples, Mike Maignan is still illustrated. The goalkeeper of the Blues stopped the penalty, shot by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, in the 82nd minute. With this new parade, the ex-Lillois stopped his third penalty of the season, out of five suffered. Or 60% success in the exercise in 2022-2023. Previously, he had repelled that of Domenico Berardi with AC Milan against Sassuolo in August 2022 (0-0), then that of Memphis Depay, on March 24 during the France-Netherlands match in the Euro 2024 qualifiers ( 4-0).
37,7. Since the start of his career, Maignan “has not conceded 37.7% of the penalties or shots on goal he has faced. In detail, he suffered 53 shots on goal or penalties, in club and selection. He stopped 14 and 6 missed out.
131. If he did not score against Chelsea, Karim Benzema still entered a little more in the history of Real Madrid by becoming the player with the most matches in the Champions League with the Merengues. The French played his 131st meeting with Real in the quarter-final second leg, overtaking Raul (130) and Sergio Ramos (129). Arrived in the Spanish capital in 2009, he is also the club’s second top scorer in the Champions League (78) behind Cristiano Ronaldo (105) and the third player to have played the most matches in the knockout phase of this event with 67 meetings after CR7 (85) and Messi (77).
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