Paris Saint-Germain found an unlikely hero last night in Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.The former Stoke City striker came off the bench against Atalanta and scored a dramatic late winner to send PSG to the semi-finals of the Champions League.It was only the striker's sixth goal of the season in all competitions and his first in the Champions League in 2019/20.Not a bad time to deliver the goods and Choupo-Moting's heroics in Lisbon have given birth to a quite incredible statistic.The stat in question concerns the Cameroonian striker's former team, Stoke.
With Choupo-Moting now all but a certainty to get some playing time in the semi-final next week, it now means that players from Stoke's 2017/18 squad will have featured in the last four of the Champions League in 11 of the past 15 seasons.By the way, that squad was relegated from the Premier League...
Do not adjust your screens, this incredible statistic is actually true.
Both Darren Fletcher and Bojan Krkic have appeared in four Champions League semi-finals apiece with Manchester United and Barcelona.
Then you have Peter Crouch during his time with Liverpool between 2007 and 2008, while Jese Rodriguez notched minutes at Real Madrid in 2015 and 2016.
Xherdan Shaqiri is the only member of Stoke's class of 17/18 to have played in Champions League semi-finals with two different clubs.
The Swiss international featured for Bayern Munich in 2013, before his brilliant performance against Barcelona for Liverpool in last year's semi-final.
Out of the 11 seasons in question, seven saw a former Stoke player get their hands on the coveted Champions League trophy.
Can Choupo-Moting make it eight out of 11 in 2019/20? You wouldn't bet against PSG after their heroics yesterday evening.