Football
Anirudh Menon 3y

Stats: Ronaldo's new record, Haaland's goalscoring, Simeone's first vs Barca

After a fortnight-long international break, By The Numbers is back. And to welcome us, club football served up some delicious fare. Cristiano Ronaldo did Cristiano Ronaldo things as he scored two to guide Juventus to a 2-0 win over Cagliari. Erling Haaland did Erling Haaland things as he scored four(!) to lead Borussia Dortmund to a comeback 5-2 win at Hertha Berlin. They are now just a point off the top after Bayern Munich drew 1-1 with Werder Bremen.

In the Premier League, a Jose Mourinho tactical masterclass saw Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester City 2-0 and go top of the table (for the day). Manchester United finally won this season at home, beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty, while Chelsea eased past Newcastle United 2-0. Oh, and Real Madrid drew 1-1 with Villarreal and Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0.

Here are the best stats from Saturday's action:


Premier League

3

Mourinho and Pep Guardiola go a way back. But Mourinho has beaten Guardiola by two or more goals only thrice -- this Saturday night, in February 2020 (also 2-0), and back in April 2010 in the UCL semifinals, when Inter Milan beat Guardiola's Barcelona 3-1 in the first leg.

5

This was Manchester United's first victory against West Brom at OId Trafford since 2015, five years ago. In the process, they also ended a six-game winless streak at home in league play (the club's worst such streak in PL history).

7

This was Mourinho's seventh win over Guardiola. Only Jurgen Klopp has more (nine). Tied on third with three wins each are Mauricio Pochettino, Arsene Wenger, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

7.7%

According to Squawka, Manchester United forwards have converted just 7.7% of all shots attempted in the league this season, the lowest conversion rate among all Premier League teams this season. Marcus Rashford is at 10.5% (2 in 19), Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood at 0% (0 in 8 and 7 resp.) and Edinson Cavani at 20% (1 in 5).

9

Harry Kane has provided nine assists in his nine Premier League games this season, more than any other player in the division. To put this into context, Kane had provided just eight assists in his previous three league campaigns combined - that's eight assists in 94 games.

12

Pep Guardiola has collected just 12 points from his first eight games of this season, his lowest-ever return from his first eight league matches across his managerial career.

14/3

This is just the 14th time that Manchester City have been held scoreless in the PL under Guardiola. Three of those matches have come against Tottenham, more than against any other club.

35

Tottenham finish a day top of the PL table for the first time since August 2014. It is, though, the first time they have ended the day atop the top-flight this far into a campaign since January 1985, 35 years ago!

50%

Half of Bruno Fernandes' PL goals for Manchester United have been penalties (7/14), the highest ratio of any player to score for the club in the competition.

La Liga

1

This was Diego Simeone's first league win vs. Barcelona as Atletico Madrid manager. It took him just 18 games (W 1, D 6, L 11).

3

Sevilla FC came from 1-2 down to beat Celta Vigo 4-2. This was their third come-from-behind victory in all competitions this season, more than any other side in the Top 5 European Leagues (tied with Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool and Manchester United).

11

Barcelona have got just 11 points after their opening eight games in La Liga, their worst tally at this stage of a season since 1991/92. Johan Cruyff's 'dream team' did go on to win the league that year, though.

15

This was Atletico Madrid's first league win over Barcelona without conceding a goal since February 2005, 15 years ago!

Bundesliga

1

Aged 16 years and one day, Borussia Dortmund's Yousouffa Moukoko became the youngest player to ever play in the Bundesliga. Moukoko beat Nuri Sahin's previous record by exactly eleven months.

10

Moukoko came on to replace goalscoring machine Haaland, who now has 10 goals in Bundesliga this season (seven games played), one behind Robert Lewandowski in the race for the Golden Boot.

16

Across all competitions, Haaland now has 16 goal contributions (13 G, 3 A) this season, tied for third-most among all players from Europe's top 5 leagues this season. Only Kane and Lewandowski have more.

23

Haaland has scored 23 goals in 22 games for Dortmund. This is the 20-year-old's world; we're just living in it.

Messi-Ronaldo watch

A quiet night out at the Wanda Metropolitano for Lionel Messi. A good night out at the Juventus stadium for Cristiano Ronaldo.

1

A rather surprising stat. Messi has scored just one out of his last 48 direct free kicks for Barcelona in all competitions (vs. Osasuna last July).

2

This is the second time that Ronaldo has scored a first-half brace in Serie A (also did it in December 2019 vs. Udinese).

5

Another day, another record in Ronaldo land. He is now the only Juventus player to have scored in each of his first five Serie A appearances in a season in the three-points-per-win era (since 1994/95). He has 8 goals this season, tied with fellow 'old man' Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the top of Capocannoniere race.

60

Ronaldo has now scored 60 Serie A goals since joining Juventus in 2018, more than any other player in the competition in that timeframe. Of course.

(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)

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