Champions League 23-24 quarterfinals set stunning scoring record

The first legs of the UCL matches saw a flurry of goals from the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, PSG and Barcelona with all the teams scoring. More was to come.

The Champions League quarterfinals 23-24 went into the record books with the joint record number of goals in the first leg, with 18 goals across the four matches. That equalled the record set in 2011. That tally meant that we still required the eight sets of players to add a further 12 in the second legs to equal the most ever across the two-legged knockout phase, with 30 being the most ever, set back in 2014. We were in for a further treat.

In the opening first legs on Tuesday 9 April, Real Madrid drew with Manchester City 3-3, while Arsenal and Bayern Munich drew two apiece, for a total of 10 goals. Wednesday saw Barcelona beat PSG in Paris 3-2, and then Atlético Madrid got a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, to add a further eight goals, taking the total first leg tally to 18.

In 2011, Real Madrid beat Spurs 4-0, Man Utd beat Chelsea 1-0, Barcelona battered Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 and Schalke 04 got a famous 5-2 win over Inter, also for a total of 18.

As mentioned above, the second legs required a combined total of 12 to tie with the all-time quarterfinal scoring record. Tuesday 16 April got us going well, with scores of Barcelona 1-4 PSG (PSG progressing 6-4 on aggregate) and Dortmund 4-2 Atlético (the Germans going through 5-4 on aggregate). Eleven goals. Just two more to set a new record, and by midway through the second halves we had it done.

Rodrygo for Madrid in the 11th minute and then Kimmich for Bayern in the 62nd. A total of 31 and the games were still going.

In the covid-19 affected 2020 quarterfinals, the matches were played over just one leg, and in