The 2019-20 Champions League campaign has been unlike any other. The group stages took place as scheduled. But the knockouts had to be pushed off for over three months amid a pandemic wrecking the world.

Interestingly, plenty of upsets have happened. The most iconic so far has been Bayern Munich thrashing Barcelona 8-2 in the quarter finals. It was such a brutal game that we almost forgot Atletico Madrid snapped Liverpool’s unbeaten run earlier in the year.

What other cool things do you remember about this season’s Champions League?

 Erling Haaland’s Debut

Norwegian sensation Erling Haaland debuted in the Champions League last September for FC Salzburg. He arrived with a bang, scoring a hat-trick to help his team thrash FC Genk 6-2 in a group stage match.

 Haaland’s goals placed him in an exclusive club. First, he became the third youngest player to score a hat trick in the Champions League. Only Raul and Wayne Rooney achieved the feat at younger ages. Then he became the eighth player overall to score three goals in his UCL debut.

Before the UCL, Haaland was firing from all cylinders at FC Salzburg. He had already scored 14 goals in nine games. After his hat trick against Genk, he stunned Liverpool in their next match and scored another four goals in three outings.

 Raheem Sterling Scored a Hat Trick in 11 Minutes

Manchester City might have exited the UCL in the quarter finals…again…but Raheem Sterling had a season to remember. His crowning moment was the three goals that helped demolish Atalanta 5-1 at home back in October.

The left winger fired three goals in just eleven minutes to overturn a one goal deficit and help City win at Etihad. Sterling’s feat was the third fastest hat trick in the UCL history. Only Blackburn’s Mike Newell (9 minutes) and Lyon’s Bafetimbi Gomis (8 minutes) have had faster trebles.

Indeed, Raheem Sterling loves speed. He loves speed as much as casino players cherish a fast withdrawal casino UK. He’s clocked 34.97 kmph at his fastest sprint at City. Despite that, he’s a tad slower than Kylie Mbappe and Arsenal’s Aubameyang.

Ramos Get a Red

When Real Madrid hosted Manchester City in the round of 16 earlier this year, every expected the host to win or draw. Instead, the visitors stunned the 13-time UCL winners 2-1 but not before Sergio Ramos was sent off.

It was Ramos’ fourth UCL red card and his 26th such card overall. Now, he’s at par with Zlatan Ibrahimović and Edgar Davids for the most red cards in the UCL. However, he’s still a mile behind the most red-carded player in history—Colombia’s Gerardo Bedoya received 46 red cards in 22 years.

Can Ramos equal Davids’ red card record? Probably not. He’s thirty-four years old and averages three red cards per season. The Spanish defender would have to play six more seasons to equal the Colombian’s unwanted feat.

Erling Haaland Zen Master Celebration

Erling Haaland has been at the attention of sports news severally this year. First, it was during his debut. Then it was after he scored against Liverpool. When he joined Borussia Dortmund, he continued to fuel attention not only through his goal-scoring skills but his celebrations too.

He Zen celebration after scoring in a 2-1 win against PSG was so iconic that PSG players later recreated it in the return leg. In all fairness, Neymar and cohorts did it to mock Haaland after they knocked out BVB.  But it counts.

Mourinho’s Ball Boy Hero

It feels like just the other day a Spurs ball boy refused to hand over a match ball to Olympiakos players. And in doing so, he aided Tottenham to equalize and later win their group match against the Greek club. 

Needless to say, the Spurs coach was full of praise for the ball boy.

“The kid today was brilliant. He reads the game, understands the game and made an important assist,” Jose Mourinho.

Club Bruges’ Early Celebration

Club Bruges had a couple of hard-fought draws this UCL season. First, they netted two quick goals to almost stun Real Madrid in the Group Stage. But Zinedine Zidane’s men fought back to equal the game.

Brugge’s most impressive draw, however, was their game against Galatasaray. They were one goal down and wanted a draw to keep their hopes of qualifying for knock out stages alive. Luckily, their hard work paid off and scored in the 92nd minute.

Unfortunately, the team got too jubilant in their celebration that two of them received red cards. What happened? Krepin Diatta forgot he had a warning and received his shirt to celebrate. Naturally, he got a second yellow card.

His partner, Clinton Mata, also had a yellow card. So, when he kicked the corner flag and broke it, the referee booked him a second time.

Josip Ilicic and Lewandowski Joins Exclusive Club

For a long time, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi seemed capable of breaking UCL records. But not this season. The pair has been absent from the record books. But guess who’ve taken their positions?

Let’s start with Atalanta’s Josep Ilicic who scored five goals in their tie against Valencia. He scored four goals at home and had netted one more in their away leg. With five goals in a tie, Ilicic became the only player other than Messi or Ronaldo to have such a feat.

Then there’s Robert Lewandowski, the man everyone was gunning to win this season’s Ballon d’OR trophy. He’s scored 15 goals so far and only needs two more to equal Cristiano’s record of 17 goals in a single UCL season. In case you’re wondering, Messi’s best record is 14 goals in the 2011/12 campaign.

Lyon and RB Leipzig

Most people didn’t imagine RB Leipzig and Lyon would get to the UCL semi-finals this year. Yet, here we are. The German side started its UCL campaign this season pretty well. It won thrice and drew twice to lead Group G—ahead of Lyon.

In the Round of 16, Leipzig stunned Tottenham 4-0. It then kicked Atletico Madrid out of the competition only to concede three goals in the semi-finals against PSG. In the meantime, Lyon upset Juventus and Man City to reach the semis.