European Champions League matches will return with the start of a new version of the continental tournament on Tuesday, when the first round of the group stage matches will take place.

Here are some interesting facts and figures about the group stage:

– Cristiano Ronaldo has made the most appearances in the group stage with 98 appearances and is absent this season after Manchester United failed to qualify for the competition.

Lionel Messi has scored the most in the group stage with 78 goals.

– The player with the most group stage goals in a single edition is Ronaldo with Real Madrid in the 2015-2016 season with 11 goals.

Ronaldo (2017-2018) and Sebastian Haller (2021-2022) are the only players to score in all group stage matches in the same edition.

– Brazilian Luis Adriano scored more than one goal in the group stage (5 goals for Shakhtar against BATE Barisov in 2014).

Jonas is the fastest player to score in this round (10 seconds) in 2011 during a match between Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen.

– Francesco Totti, the oldest player to score in the Champions League group stage (age 38 in 2014 against CSKA).

Goalkeeper Marco Pallotta, 43, the oldest player to play in the group stage, 2007, during the Lazio-Real Madrid match.

Ansu Fati, 17, is the youngest player to score in the group stage (Inter and Barcelona in 2019).

Three teams did not score a single goal in the group stage during one instance. Deportivo La Caruna 2004-2005, Maccabi Haifa 2009-2010, Dinamo Zagreb 2016-2017.

No team has yet managed to get out of the group stage with a clean sheet.

Translated by Mohamed Bazzi.