Football
Sunaadh Sagar 1y

Rashford emulates Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or year, Benzema overtakes Messi, Gavi's 1 and 2 ties Cruyff: Stats

Derby weekend delivered in a big way, with plenty of stunning results from Europe's Top 5 leagues.

Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points with a 2-0 win in the North London Derby, aided by Manchester United beating Manchester City in their derby. Liverpool suffered a shock defeat to Brighton, while Chelsea squeezed out a narrow win over Crystal Palace.

Over in Spain, Barcelona won the latest El Clasico with a dominant 3-1 win over Real Madrid to lift the Supercopa de Espana title.

Napoli went eight clear atop the Serie A table after eviscerating Juventus, with AC Milan dropping points while Inter edged past Verona.

Meanwhile, PSG saw their lead at the top of Ligue 1 cut to three points after a 1-0 loss against Rennes, with second-placed Lens and Marseille both registering wins.

By The Numbers has the best stats from the weekend action:


PREMIER LEAGUE

1

Marcus Rashford is the first Manchester United player to score in seven consecutive appearances across all competitions since Cristiano Ronaldo did it in April 2008 - when he went on the win the Ballon d'Or. It was also Rashford's ninth consecutive goal at home, tying Dennis Viollet of the Busby Babes for a club record (1959).

4

This was Manchester United's fourth comeback victory in the Manchester Derby - previously doing so on November 7, 1993; April 12, 2015; April 7, 2018.

0

Erling Haaland went without a goal for the 3rd consecutive match (his longest drought of the season); Manchester City are 2-5-1 (W-L-D) this season in all competitions when Haaland is held scoreless (13-0-3 when he scores).

2.41

Aaron Ramsdale prevented 2.41 goals vs Tottenham on Sunday - the highest number of goals prevented by any keeper in a Premier League match this season.

8 and 12

Arsenal ended their eight-game winless run away to Spurs, their first win since 2014. They also extended their unbeaten streak in the league to 12 games, their longest such streak since Mikel Arteta took over as manager.

1/354

Hugo Lloris scored the first own-goal of his Premier League career, which stands at 354 games played for Tottenham Hotspur.

8 and 13

Martin Odegaard went past his tally of 12 goal involvements and seven goals from 2021-22, now having 13 goal contributions (8 goals, 5 assists).

1

After 251 games played in his career, Solly March registered his first multi-goal game with a brace against Liverpool.

16

James Ward-Prowse scored his 16th direct free kick in the Premier League. Ward-Prowse is two behind David Beckham's record for most direct free-kick goals in Premier League history (18).

9/9

Ivan Toney's tally of converting nine out of nine penalties in the Premier League is now second only to Yaya Toure's 11/11 converted.

Supercopa de Espana

1

Barcelona won their first-ever trophy in the 21st century without Lionel Messi, with their previous one being the 1998-99 LaLiga title. This was also Xavi's first trophy as Barcelona manager, and the club's 14th SdE trophy (more than any other team - Real Madrid have won it 12 times).

1

Gavi is the youngest player in Supercopa de Espana history to score in the final. He's also the second-youngest player in Barca's history to score against Real Madrid. He's also the first Barcelona player to register a goal and two assists in an El Clasico game since Johan Cruyff.

21 and 45

Sergio Busquets equalled Paco Gento for the most El Clasicos won by a player, while also tying Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi for the most El Clasico appearances (45).

2

This was only the second time since Carlo Ancelotti returned to Madrid in 2021 that the club lost by multiple goals, both of them vs Barcelona (4-0 on March 20, 2022).

5

Real Madrid's record of winning five consecutive finals of major trophies came to an end. Their last loss in a final was the 2018 Super Cup against Atletico Madrid.

6

Karim Benzema broke Lionel Messi's record by scoring in his sixth consecutive Supercopa de Espana game. However, he is tied second with Raul (7) and well behind Messi's all-time tally of 14 SdE goals. This was also Benzema's 13th El Clasico goal, overtaking Carlos Alonso 'Santillana' for the eighth-most goals in El Clasico history and the sixth-most by a Real Madrid player.

400

Karim Benzema scored the 400th goal of his career, with 66 for Lyon and now 334 with Real Madrid.

SERIE A

29

Juventus conceded five goals in a Serie A match for the first time since 30 May 1993 (1-5 v Pescara), 29 years ago.

1

This was the first time Napoli beat Juventus by a four-goal margin in Serie A. It was also the first time in 34 years that Napoli scored more than four goals against Juve, last doing so in 1988.

7 + 7

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia joined Neymar and Lionel Messi as the only players in Europe's Top 5 leagues to have at least seven goals and as many assists this season.

LIGUE 1

6

Rennes have had PSG's number since their QSI takeover, beating them six times in that timespan - the most by any Ligue 1 club (Lyon and Monaco have five wins over PSG in that period).

16y 313d

At the age of 16 years and 313 days, Warren Zaire-Emery became the youngest player in to start a Ligue 1 game for Paris Saint-Germain in their history.

RONALDO MESSI WATCH

Cristiano Ronaldo inched ever closer to his Al Nassr debut but caught up with his former Real Madrid teammates as the club played the Supercopa de Espana final in Saudi Arabia - with Rodrygo having an interesting reaction.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi played the entire 90 of PSG's loss to Rennes, only registering three shots while failing to score or assist. World Cup hangover, anyone?

(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)

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