From Folgore's 0-2 loss to Prishtina in the opening round of UEFA Champions League qualification back in late June to Real Madrid's 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the final in Paris this week, European football's most elite competition has certainly delivered its fair share of action this season.
Real's historic 14th Champions League title now puts them on more than twice as many as any other club in the history of the competition, whilst a plethora of players and teams thrust their own names into the limelight throughout the campaign.
From Sebastien Haller becoming only the 14th player ever to record a four-goal UCL performance to Thibaut Courtois' monstrous campaign between the sticks, The Sporting News has dug into the data from across the season with all the key stats and facts below.
Goalscoring and xG
In another season of high drama, the Champions League saw an influx of scoring across all stages.
- The 2022 Champions League witnessed 380 total goals scored from the group stage to the final. That equates to 3.04 goals on average per match with a goal coming every 30 minutes of play.
- The time period which saw the most goals netted was the 76th to the 90th minute with 58 strikes being scored during that timeframe.
- Despite exiting at the quarter-final stage, Bayern Munich were the top scoring side in the Champions League this season, netting 31 goals across just ten matches.
- Liverpool were potent in the air, scoring a competition-high six headed goals. The Reds also had 222 attempts at goal, substantially more than Manchester City who sit second in that category with 193.
- Real Madrid netted the most goals from outside the box with six, whilst themselves, Bayern and Salzburg all struck three penalties - the most by any team.
- On an individual level, Karim Benzema netted the most goals with 15. The French striker was followed by Robert Lewandowski on 13 and Sebastien Haller on 11. Benzema now sits third on the UCL all-time goal scorers list with 86 goals, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (141) and Lionel Messi (125).
- Benzema became the first Frenchman to outright lead the Champions League in terms of goalscoring since Just Fontaine in the 1989/90 season.
- Lewandowski's return of 13 strikes came from a competition-high 9.5 xG, though it was Benzema who outperformed his xG more than any other player in the Champions League this season, netting 15 goals from an xG of 8.6. Fellow Frenchman Christopher Nkunku ranked second in that category after scoring a remarkable seven times from an xG of just 2.7!
- Sporting Lisbon's Paulinho can consider himself unlucky, as he hit the woodwork the most times of any player (3).
Assists and passing
- Real's Vinicius Junior, Bayern's Leroy Sane and Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes all ended the Champions League campaign with six assists, the most of any player.
- Vinicius also shone by creating 31 chances for his teammates in European action this season.
- Manchester City midfielder Rodri was the player who completed the most successful passes of any player in the competition with 753, whilst Benzema made a competition-high 228 successful passes into the final third.
- An ever present danger for Liverpool, full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold completed the most successful crosses in the UCL this season with 25.
- No team had a higher pass completion rate than Shakhtar Donetsk (90.5%), though Liverpool attempted the most passes with 8068.
- Bayern Munich ranked top for the highest average possession with 60.1%.
- Liverpool also won the most corners of any side in the competition with 92.
Goalkeeping
- Real Madrid's Courtois made 59 saves throughout the Champions League this season, the most of any goalkeeper in a single campaign since 2012.
- The Belgian also took the man-of-the-match plaudits in his side's 1-0 victory in the final by making nine saves to deny Liverpool. The most saves in a Champions League final since the 2003/04 season.
- His save percentage of 80.56% was also the highest of any UCL goalkeeper who played more than one match.
- Courtois, Benfica's Odysseas Vlachodimos and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy recorded the joint-most clean sheets with five.
- This season, no goalkeeper managed to save more than one penalty in the Champions League.
Game actions
- Vinicius was involved in more duels than any other player in the Champions League this summer (174) and won the most of any player with 79.
- Lille's Benjamin Andre and Villarreal's Gerard Moreno were both involved in 49 aerial duels, though Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk won the most with 34.
- No player won possession back more times for his side than Rodri (86).
- Salzburg's Rasmus Kristensen and Villarreal's Juan Foyth both attempted the most tackles with 37, with Foyth winning the most of any player (25).
- Real's Eder Militao made both the most blocks (15) and most interceptions (26), whilst Villarreal's Pau Torres made the most clearances (62).
- Real Madrid overall made the most tackles of any side with 166, substantially more than Benfica in second spot with 146.
Results and milestones
- The biggest victory this season in terms of scoreline saw Bayern Munich defeat Salzburg 7-1 in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.
- The game with the most goals saw Manchester City defeat Leipzig 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium during the group stage.
- Ajax's Sebastian Haller became the first ever player in Champions League history to score four times on his competition debut when he netted four against Sporting Lisbon on matchday one.
- Former Borussia Dortmund and now Manchester City striker Erling Haaland became the youngest player in competition history to reach 20 goals.
- The match with the biggest disparity in terms of shots saw Real Madrid have 30 compared to Sheriff's 4 at the Santiago Bernabeu, though it was Moldova's first-ever group stage participants that won the match 2-1.
- With Real's victory in the final, boss Carlo Ancelotti became the first manager in competition history to lift the trophy four times.
