PSG broke the hearts of football fans last night when they scored two late goals in their Champions League quarter final against Atalanta.
It would have been some achievement for the Italian side to reach the last four. Not only was this their first time taking part in Europe's premier club competition, but they had played some stunning football this season after assembling a squad with a relatively meagre budget. The fact that their city of Bergamo had been ravaged by the coronavirus earlier this year only added to the story.
It wasn't to be, with the French champions scoring two goals in the dying stages to snatch a 2-1 victory.
While there was little joy to take from that result for neutrals, Stoke City supporters may have been secretly delighted. Their former striker Eric Choupo-Moting scored the winner, keeping in tact a remarkable record by securing passage to the semi-finals.
According to journalist Richard Jolly, assuming Choupo-Moting plays in the next round, it will mean that at least one member of Stoke squad from their most recent season in the Premier League would have played at that stage of the competition in 12 of the last 17 seasons.
If Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting plays in the next round, it will mean the relegated Stoke squad of 2017-18 had players who played in the 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 & 2020 Champions League semi-finals.
— Richard Jolly 🇺🇦 (@RichJolly) August 12, 2020
Someone on twitter pointed out that 2004 should also have been included.
Here's the players who took part each year.
2004: Glen Johnson
2005: Glen Johnson
2007: Darren Fletcher
2008: Darren Fletcher, Bojan
2009: Darren Fletcher, Bojan
2010: Bojan
2011: Darren Fletcher, Ibrahim Afellay
2013: Xherdan Shaqiri
2015: Jesé
2016: Jesé
2019: Xherdan Shaqiri
2020: Eric Choupo-Moting*
Not a bad record. It would make you wonder how that team ended up getting relegated a couple of years ago.
