Great rain of goals

But the remarkable thing about the average rate of 4.5 goals/match in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League 2023 - 2024 affirms the excellent quality of the top matches, not simply the ball into the net. Rarely does the top tournament of the Champions League have a truly attractive match like the one just mentioned.

Rodrigo De Paul (left) helped Atletico Madrid score their second goal against Borussia Dortmund

There were 18 goals in total in 4 matches. The history of the C1/Champions League has also recorded a few such rains of goals in the first leg of the quarter-finals, but not many, and also... not necessarily good. In the old days (1956-1957 season), there were 19 goals scored in 4 matches, each match had a difference of 2 goals or more. The modern era also recorded 18 goals in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 2010-2011 season. There were 2 teams scoring 5 goals and 1 team won 4-0 in that match, in short, it was too much difference. Similarly, too much difference was also a characteristic of the quarter-finals of the 2019-2020 season, when Bayern Munich (the eventual champion) beat Barcelona 8-2. It was not a normal football season, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and all tournaments were delayed to varying degrees.

Barca's joy

Now it's different. Although there were 18 goals in 4 matches, none of them had a difference of more than 1 goal. This is also the first time since the Champions League was born that all 8 teams scored in the first leg of the quarter-finals (not counting the 2019-2020 season which only had 1 match for each round, starting from the quarter-finals). As a result, the level of hope of all 8 teams and the attractiveness of the 4 second legs (in the middle of next week) are almost intact.

Borussia Dortmund was rated slightly better than Atletico Madrid by the statistics company Opta, but in the early morning of April 11, they lost 1-2 and were the only team in this match to score only 1 goal. Similarly, Barcelona won "overdog" PSG 3-2 right in Paris. Before that, there were 2 draws that satisfied the audience, Real Madrid - Manchester City (3-3) and Arsenal - Bayern Munich (2-2).

Under the old UEFA regulations, teams that scored in a draw away from home would have an advantage going into the second leg. But now, a draw is considered a return to square one. The objectives and tactics that come with the return leg will therefore change, not as monotonous as when the "scoring away from home" rule still existed.

The feeling of waiting to watch the return matches is so exciting!

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