Our 2006 vintage kept a remarkable 10 clean sheets in a row, inspiring us to knock out Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal to reach the final in Paris.

As that record still sits at the top of the pile in UCL history, our 2025/26 backline has been showcasing its shutout skills this season, helping us reach Budapest.

HOW WE MADE HISTORY

When Markus Rosenberg netted in the 71st minute on September 27, 2005, in our 2-1 win against Ajax, few would have predicted the next goal we'd concede would be 232 days later, in the Champions League final.

The run kicked off with four straight clean sheets against Sparta Prague, FC Thun and Ajax to close out the group stage in top spot - setting up a date with Real Madrid in the round of 16.

We produced a fine defensive display across both legs, with Thierry Henry's incredible solo goal sending us through to face Juventus in the last eight. 

Cesc Fabregas and Henry netted in a 2-0 win in the first leg before another brave display in Turin made it eight in a row.

Those two clean sheets helped us break the consecutive clean-sheet record, which we then extended with a 1-0 home win at Highbury against Spanish outfit Villarreal.

We needed Jens Lehmann's heroics in the reverse fixture as he saved Juan Riquelme's penalty to preserve our 1-0 aggregate lead and reach the final and make it 10 shutouts in a row.

Since that monumental run, only Manchester City have come close to matching it, with seven straight clean sheets in 2020/21.

INSPIRED BY THE CLASS OF '06

Fast forward two decades and our defensive unit has been putting up impressive numbers that can take inspiration from our 2006 side.

We kicked off the league phase with four shutouts against Athletic Club, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague and our semi-final opponents, Atlético de Madrid.

A 3-0 win over Club Brugge was our final clean sheet of a perfect league phase, and since entering the knockouts, we have conceded just two goals in six matches. 

That means we're on nine clean sheets in 2025/26, just one off our own record and the tournament's record of 10, which is also held by Real Madrid's 2015/16 side.

With just six goals conceded in the competition so far, we also rank highly for the fewest goals conceded by teams that have reached the final.

RAYA JOINS THE GREATS

David Raya has been in sparkling form in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League this season, conjuring up a host of fine stops to help preserve his clean sheets.

Our Spanish stopper has nine clean sheets in 13 matches, which puts him amongst some legendary names for the most in a single season. Following his shutout against Atleti in the semi-final second leg, a clean sheet in the final would take David to the top of the record books in his own right.

Since our return to the Champions League in 2023/24, clean sheets have been our currency. No player has kept more in that time than David, who has 19 shutouts to his name. In addition, defenders William Saliba and Gabriel also rank in the top five.

Stats provided by OPTA - correct as of 06/05/26