UEFA Champions League Stats Recap: Matchday 3 | The Analyst
We look back at the key UEFA Champions League stats, stories and moments that matter from Matchday 3 of the 2023-24 competition.
Despite both featuring so often in the European Cup/Champions League over the years, it may have surprised people that this was the first meeting between Galatasaray and Bayern Munich since the 1972-73 European Cup first round.
The Turkish giants had not won at home in the competition since September 2018, going winless in their previous six, and despite a valiant effort in a game in which they were much the better side for an hour, that ultimately became winless in seven on Tuesday (D3 L4).
Bayern were looking to win their opening three games of a Champions League campaign for the fifth consecutive year, having done so in every season since 2019-20. After beating Galatasaray, they have won each of their last eight away games in the group stage of the competition and are unbeaten in their last 19 away from home in the group stage (W17 D2).
It was a bright start for the hosts, but it was Bayern who took the lead with their first attack. The Germans countered well with Jamal Musiala combining with Leroy Sané, who found Kingsley Coman in acres of space to his right. Coman had time to take a touch and fire low across Fernando Muslera into the far corner.
Coman is now one of four players to score in each of the last seven Champions League seasons (since 2017-18) along with Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé.
Kerem Aktürkoğlu – one of our players to keep an eye on before the competition began – forced Sven Ulreich into a superb reaction save moments later, before somehow skying an effort from point-blank range after Ulreich palmed across straight into his path.
Galatasaray kept pushing and were rewarded just before the half-hour mark as Mauro Icardi went down under a challenge from Joshua Kimmich, resulting in a penalty. Icardi missed a spot kick in the 2-1 win at Manchester United on MD 2, which made his successful Panenka to make it 1-1 against Bayern feel all the cheekier.
Okan Buruk’s men had 16 shots in the first half to Bayern’s three, the first time on record (since 2003-04) that Bayern had conceded 14 or more shots in the opening 45 minutes of a Champions League game.
Galatasaray appeared to tire as the game went on, and that was all Bayern needed to edge back ahead. Musiala passed inside for Harry Kane, who needed two goes at it but eventually forced the ball in with just under 20 minutes remaining at Rams Park. It was the former Tottenham man’s 11th goal of the season for the Bundesliga champions.
The victory was wrapped up in the 79th minute when Kane repaid the favour to Musiala, passing from the left to give the youngster a simple finish to make it 3-1 and put Bayern on nine points in Group A, with Galatasaray left on four.
Inter Milan took a big step towards the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Red Bull Salzburg at San Siro on Tuesday evening. Goals in either half from Alexis Sánchez and Hakan Çalhanoğlu did the job against the spirited and attacking young Austrian side.
Sánchez became the top-scoring Chilean in Champions League history when he struck in the first half after a nice pass into the penalty area from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, which was inadvertently flicked on by Davide Frattesi.
It was Sánchez’s 16th goal among Europe’s elite. With that strike, he overtook Arturo Vidal, who scored 15 during his time in Europe – hitting his UCL goals for Inter, Bayern Munich and Juventus. Sánchez has netted in the Champions League for Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter and Marseille.
Salzburg’s young guns did level things through 19-year-old Oscar Gloukh after a sweeping move up the field but their grip on a draw soon slipped when Frattesi became the meat in a Lucas Gourna-Douath and Strahinja Pavlovic sandwich in the penalty area.
Up stepped Çalhanoğlu and the writing was on the wall. Çalhanoğlu has scored all nine of his attempts from the spot since joining Inter. It was the first penalty the Italians had scored at San Siro in the Champions League since 13 March 2012 when Giampaolo Pazzini netted from the spot against Marseille.
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