Football
Anirudh Menon 3y

Real Madrid 97 - 96 Barcelona, Ramos 45 - 44 Messi, Ansu Fati beats Raul, Ajax's record 13

Well, that was some Saturday, eh? Big matches, many goals, multiple records... By The Numbers is here to bring you the best of the lot:


Premier League

The weekend started with Leeds United hammering Aston Villa 3-1, before the goals dried up (relatively) as Liverpool came from behind to beat Sheffield United 2-1, Manchester City came from behind to draw West Ham United 1-1. Oh, and Manchester United drew Chelsea 0-0 at Old Trafford, almost forgot that happened.

0

Travelling is not a problem for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men, but staying at home is another matter. This is the first time since 1972-73 that Manchester United have failed to register a win in their opening three home league games of a season.

1

FPL managers, hello! This was the first time since October 2017 that Pep Guardiola named an unchanged Manchester City XI.

1

Edouard Mendy is the first Chelsea goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in each of his first two league starts for the club since Petr Cech in 2004. Much needed relief for Frank Lampard.

11

West Ham are on a roll, and it is being powered by the unexpected goalscoring talents of one man. Since the restart in June, only Harry Kane (12) has scored more PL goals than West Ham's Michail Antonio (11).

14

Not a stat the defending champions would be proud of. No PL team has conceded more goals this season than Liverpool (14 - level with Fulham).

37

Liverpool's goal concession on Saturday came via the spot. Sander Berge's penalty was the first Liverpool have faced at Anfield in 37 PL games, since a 0-0 draw with Manchester City in October 2018 (that day, the penalty was sent into row Z by Riyad Mahrez).

57

Since Marcelo Bielsa took charge of Leeds United in August 2018, only Liverpool (65) and Manchester City (60) have celebrated more league wins than Leeds (57) within the top four tiers of English football.

62

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 62 PL home games. It has been 1,270 days since they last tasted a home defeat in the league. The last team to win a PL game at Anfield? Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace in April 2017.

La Liga

Atletico Madrid beat Real Betis 2-0, Elche beat Valencia 2-1, and Sevilla lost to Eibar 1-0, but the biggest match of the day was El Clasico. Real Madrid rather convincingly beat Barcelona 3-1, away at the Camp Nou.

1

Barca may have lost the game, but they do have one thing to smile about. Ansu Fati is now the youngest goalscorer in Clasico history at 17 years and 359 days. This beats the previous record set by a certain Raul González (18 years, 95 days; scored in Sept. 1995 for Real Madrid).

Fati is now the youngest scorer in El Clasico history, Spain's national team history, Champions League history and Barcelona's La Liga history. Record breaker, history maker.

+2

This is Real Madrid's largest margin of victory (+2) in an away league Clasico since a 0-2 win in February 1980.

4

Zinedine Zidane is just the 4th Real Madrid manager to win 5 Clasicos, after Miguel Munoz, Luis Molowny and José Mourinho. Zidane's record? 5-2-3 (W-L-D), and he is unbeaten in away Clasicos (3-0-3). Only Munoz (7) has won more away Clasicos for Real Madrid than him (3) in all competitions.

Meanwhile, the last 4 Barcelona managers to coach their first Clasico lost (Ronaldo Koeman on Saturday, Quiq Setién in 2020, Ernesto Valverde in 2017, and Luis Enrique in 2014). Oh and in case you were wondering, Zidane played in 11 Clasicos for Real Madrid (won 4), while his opposite number, Koeman, played 14 for Barcelona (won 6).

4,5

Luis Suárez is now tied for the lead as La Liga top scorer (4) and leads alone in goal involvements (5).

21

Atletico Madrid have set a club record for its longest unbeaten streak in La Liga (21 games). Diego Simeone's powers are waning? Pshaw!

45-44

Sergio Ramos extended his all-time Clasico appearances to 45 on Saturday. Right behind him is Lionel Messi, with 44.

97-96

Real Madrid have now won 97 Clasicos to Barcelona's 96 (drawn 52). The all-time lead returns to Los Blancos.

400

Fati's goal was the 400th goal scored by Barcelona in Clasicos (all competitions). The man who hit Real Madrid's 400th was Cristiano Ronaldo.

Stat(s) of the day

We step outside the rarefied air of Europe's top 5 leagues to the Eredivisie in the Netherlands, where Ajax have beaten VVV Venlo 13-0. No, there's no typo there, they scored THIRTEEN goals. And they took 45 shots at VVV's goal - that's a shot every two minutes! (They, in turn, took 3).

8

19-year-old Lassina Traore was the star of the day. He participated directly in EIGHT of his team's 13 goals today -- scored 5, assisted 3.

Just to put that number into context, that's more goals than Lionel Messi has scored from open play in all comps since the restart (5).

13

They are the first team to score 13 goals in a single Eredivisie game, breaking their own record from May 1972 (12-1 vs. Vitesse). This is however, not (unbelievably) an Ajax record. That was set in the 1984-85 UEFA Cup, when they beat Luxembourg's FA Red Boys Differdang 14-0.

Incidentally, the last time a club from one of Europe's top 5 leagues had 10 goals in a single league match was Real Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecano in December 2015. They won 10-2 (Bale*4, Benzema*3, Ronaldo*2, Danilo*1).

Bundesliga

Robert Lewandowski keeps scoring, and so does Erling Haaland, which usually means their teams keep winning. Bayern dismissed Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 while Borussia Dortmund won the Ruhr derby 3-0 with ease. They are now both a point behind early league leaders RB Leipzig (who beat Hertha Berlin 2-1).

8*3

"LewanGOALski, get it?" Thomas Muller gave his teammate the perfect nickname when he gave that iconic presser last season. Lewandowski has now scored 8 hattricks in the last 5 Bundesliga seasons. That's double the next closest player in that span -- Alfred Finnbogason (4).

10

Lewandowski is the first player to reach 10 league goals in Europe's top 5 leagues this season. He's scored these 10 goals in 5 games - a new Bundesliga record. The previous league record for fastest to 10 goals was held by the man himself. Last season, he took 6 games. Slow poke.

18

Haaland has 18 Bundesliga goals in 2020, among players 20 or younger in Europe's top five leagues, no one else has more than 9.

Messi-Ronaldo watch

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to miss Juventus' Serie A game against Verona, while Lionel Messi might be wishing he had missed Saturday's El Clasico.

0

Messi has scored 0 goals from open play in 6 games this season across all competitions (he has scored 2 penalties though). This is his longest open play goal drought to start a season since 2005-06 (7 games). That's a good 15 years ago!

6

Messi is now going through a six game goal drought in El Clasico (all comps). This is tied for his longest drought in games vs. Real Madrid (6 games between March 2014 and December 2016). It has not been a happy summer for the little magician.

(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)

^ Back to Top ^