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KEYSTONE
Lille chasing the quarter-finals, Aston Villa on historic tracks, PSV hopeful after debacle - and the Madrid duel on a knife-edge. Who will come out on top? Here are the key facts you need to know ahead of the games.
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OSC Lille - Borussia Dortmund (first leg: 1:1)
- OSC Lille have struggled against German teams, with just one win in ten matches - a 3-1 victory over Wolfsburg in the 2021 Champions League. All three encounters against Borussia Dortmund ended in a draw.
- Borussia Dortmund are in top form away from home in the knockout phase of the Champions League. Most recently, they won at Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals (pre-season) and at Sporting Lisbon in the play-offs. However, BVB have never won three away games in a row in a knockout round of the competition.
- Serhou Guirassy is Dortmund's away guarantee in the Champions League. He was involved in at least one goal in all five games on foreign pitches. Only Erling Haaland has scored more away goals for BVB in a single season (2020/21).
Aston Villa - FC Brugge (first leg: 3:1)
- Aston Villa last hosted a Belgian team in the European Cup in 1982 - and made history. In the semi-final against Anderlecht, they won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tony Morley. A few weeks later, they won the title.
- Aston Villa can make history: if they make it to the quarter-finals, they will be the ninth English club to do so. England would then overtake Spain as the country with the most different quarter-finalists in Champions League history.
- Bruges last celebrated an away win in the Champions League - a 3-1 victory at Atalanta in the play-offs. However, the Belgians have never won two away games in a row in this competition.
FC Arsenal - PSV Eindhoven (first leg: 7:1)
- Arsenal are in top form in the Champions League: five wins in a row, scoring 20 goals and conceding just three. The last time they won six in a row was under Arsène Wenger - between March and November 2005.
- Arsenal's greatest knockout victory in the European Cup remains a 10-0 win over Standard Liège in the 1993/94 Cup Winners' Cup competition - also the last time an English team won a knockout duel with at least a ten-goal difference. The last time Leeds United achieved this in the Champions League or in the National Champions Cup was in 1969/70 with a 16-0 win over Lyn.
- Ethan Nwaneri made Champions League history: at 17 years and 348 days old, he is the youngest player to score in two consecutive matches. Never before has a player scored three CL goals before his 18th birthday. The record for the youngest player to score three goals in a row is held by Kylian Mbappé (18 years, 113 days).
Atlético Madrid - Real Madrid (first leg: 1:2)
- Real Madrid are almost always a safe bet in the knockout phase of the Champions League after winning the first leg: they have progressed in 21 of the last 22 matches. The only exception was the 2018/19 round of 16 against Ajax. Under Carlo Ancelotti, this record is flawless - the Whites have made it through to the next round nine times out of nine.
- Atlético Madrid are a force at home in the knockout phase of the Champions League: they have not lost any of their 18 home games in this phase since a 3-2 defeat against Ajax in March 1997. Their impressive record at the Vicente Calderón and Metropolitano: 11 wins, 7 draws.
- Rodrygo made Champions League history: with his goal in the first leg against Atlético, he scored his 25th goal for Real Madrid in the top flight. At 24 years and 54 days, he is the fourth-youngest player to reach this mark for a club - only Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (PSG) and Raúl (Real Madrid) were even younger.