Champions League stats of the season: Hitman Haaland, Real Madrid's centurions and the Moldovan miracle

Another sensational Champions League campaign is drawing to a close, as we prepare for a tantalising final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Paris.

We've seen shock exits, incredible comebacks and stunning strikes all season and finally we are down to the final two as they meet head-to-head at the Stade de France.

Here, BTSport.com have taken a closer look at eight of the most fascinating statistics from Europe's premier club competition in 2021/22.

Rampant Ronaldo's rescue mission

Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United in the summer was heralded by some as the move that would fire The Red Devils back to glory. 

It didn't quite work out like that but the Champions League's top all-time scorer did prove he's still the man for the biggest stage, especially when Man United needed him most. 

Ronaldo's 78th-minute goal against Villarreal in Man United's fifth group-stage game broke the deadlock and put his side on the way to a crucial 2-0 win.

It was Ronaldo's sixth goal in five games but incredibly the fourth time the Portuguese had netted in the final 15 minutes of a game to change the result of a match.

No other Champions League player in history has scored as many late winners and equalisers in the group stages of the competition.

Moldovan miracles in Madrid

Shocks simply don't come much bigger than Sheriff Tiraspol's 2-1 win at Real Madrid in Matchday 2 of the Champions League group stages.

Moldova's first representatives in the competition, Sheriff visited the home of the European Cup's most successful ever team and recorded a stunning victory.

That, despite recording just four shots to Real's 30, forcing no corners to Real's 13 and requiring 11 saves from goalkeeper Giorgos Athanasiadis. 

The win was sealed by a simply stunning 89th-minute strike from Sebastien Thill, who became the first Luxembourg national to score in the Champions League era.

Haaland the fastest on the continent

Erling Haaland's impending arrival at Manchester City will leave the rest of the Premier League and Champions League quaking in their boots and it's not hard to see why. 

The Norwegian became the youngest in the competition to reach 20 goals - aged just 20 years and 231 days, he's one of only four players to score in each of their first five Champions League appearances and he's just the fifth teenager to score a hat-trick.

Haaland's three goals in three appearances for Borussia Dortmund this season means he's now netted 23 times in 19 appearances in Europe's top club competition. 

After losing out in the semi-finals this term and the final in 2021, Haaland could well be the missing piece in the Champions League jigsaw for Man City.

Former Hammer Haller's hot streak

Few West Ham fans would've predicted it but Sebastien Haller was the hottest striker on the continent at one point this season.

The Ivorian became the first player ever to score four times on his Champions League debut when Ajax thrashed Sporting CP 5-1 in Lisbon. 

Haller then netted six more in the five remaining group games plus another in the last 16, taking his total to 11 for the campaign.

When Ajax were defeated by Benfica in the first knockout round, only Robert Lewandowski had netted more than the forward. Not bad for a player written off by many as a Premier League flop...

Ancelotti ages just like fine wine...

You don't get much more Champions League than Carlo Ancelotti. The legendary manager became the first man to win the league title in Spain, Germany, France, Italy and England after leading Real Madrid to a La Liga title this season.

The Italian will lead Real out in Paris against Liverpool seeking a fourth Champions League title to add to his two with AC Milan and one during his first spell in Madrid.

When his Real team held off a late fightback from Chelsea to advance to the final four, Ancelotti became the first man to coach a semi-final across four different decades.

Beginning with Juventus in 1998/99, it's an illustration of the great man's longevity in the game. Aged just 62, you wouldn't bet against Ancelotti repeating the trick in the 2030s...

Sinking the second-half Submarine

Villarreal making the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2005/06 will have come as a shock to many.

But Unai Emery, usually a Europa League specialist, helped The Yellow Submarine vanquish first Juventus and then Bayern Munich with his disciplined, defensive system that outdid the European giants.

During the incredible run, Villarreal demonstrated they are the ultimate team of two halves with a huge contrast in goals conceded.

With only two conceded in the first half of matches, Villarreal shipped an incredible 14 in the second period - that's 88% of their total leaked.

Those 14 included five across two legs of the semi-final defeat to Liverpool demonstrating that Emery's half-time team talks are not exactly having the desired effect.

Real's centurions

The most successful team in the competition's history with 13 European Cups, Real Madrid have no fewer than five players with 100 or more Champions League appearances in their ranks.

Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Marcelo and David Alaba have all hit a century of Champions League runouts.

It means should four of them make the XI for the final against Liverpool in Paris they'd become the first team ever to start four centurions in a Champions League game.

Alaba's return to fitness boosts the chances of this record being broken further with the Austrian likely to join Kroos, Modric and Benzema on Ancelotti's teamsheet. 

Familiar final foes meet in Paris

The 2022 Champions League final will be the third time Liverpool and Real Madrid have met in the showpiece clash of a European Cup, the most between two clubs in the history of the competition.

The first duel was back in 1981 when Liverpool emerged 1-0 winners at Paris' Parc des Princes in the European Cup while the rematch came in Kyiv when Real enacted revenge in 2018.

Who will come out on top in the trilogy as Liverpool and Real battle it out in Paris, 41 years on from their first European Cup final in the French capital?