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          Messi's 699, Ronaldo's 5/4, Rashford's 73: Stats

          Lionel Messi struck the 699th goal of his club career, with this his 61st scored from a free-kick. FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images
          • Sunaadh Sagar
          Feb 20, 2023, 03:52 AM

          A dramatic weekend of European football saw title races with twists galore as Arsenal produced a last-gasp win against Aston Villa to reclaim their Premier League lead over Manchester City, who dropped points against Nottingham Forest.

          Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur continued their top-four hunt with wins, while Newcastle United stumbled at home to Liverpool. It was status quo at the top of LaLiga, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid all picking up wins, while Real Sociedad dropped points but remained in third.

          Over in Italy, Napoli remained 15 points clear of Inter Milan, while AS Roma and AC Milan leapfrogged Atalanta into the top four spots. Lionel Messi pulled off a thrilling win for PSG to maintain their lead atop Ligue 1, especially crucial after the chasing pack of Marseille, Monaco and Lens all won.

          Bayern Munich's hoodoo against Borussia Monchengladbach continued and Union Berlin dropped points at home to Schalke, allowing Borussia Dortmund to ensure the top three of the Bundesliga were tied on 43 points.

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

          PREMIER LEAGUE

          7

          Marcus Rashford continued his scoring streak at home, taking his tally up to seven consecutive games. Wayne Rooney had eight straight in the 2009-10 season, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored in 10 straight games at Old Trafford (spanning 2 seasons - 2007-08 and 2008-09).

          73 and 3

          Rashford scored his 73rd PL goal and he's now only three short of his best-ever tally of 17 league goals (2019-20).

          178, 179 or 180

          David de Gea kept the 179th clean sheet of his Manchester United career, one short of Peter Schmeichel's record of 180 clean sheets - according to the club. However, Schmeichel's tally includes two 'clean sheets' where he left the match midway having not conceded (the first due to a red card and the latter due to an eighth-minute injury). De Gea also has a similar 'clean sheet' against Arsenal in 2015, where he went off in the 64th minute having not conceded. The two goalkeepers are level on 178 clean sheets if you only consider the matches they completed.

          1.02, 9 and 17

          Erling Haaland's tally of 1.02xG against Forest was his highest in a PL game in which he didn't score. He also had nine pass attempts and 17 touches - the fewest of any PL game he's completed.

          1

          Chris Wood's goal against Man City was his first in 11 games against the club and his first for Forest since arriving on loan from Newcastle.

          90+3 and 63

          Emi Martinez's game-winning own-goal for Arsenal in the 93rd minute is the third latest game-winning own-goal in Premier League history, and the latest such goal since Wolves GK José Sá was credited with an own-goal in the 95th minute on February 24, 2022, against...Arsenal. Only two Premier League clubs have benefitted from more own goals than Arsenal (63) in the history of the League - Manchester United (74) and Liverpool (70).

          1/10

          Chelsea's run of 1 win from their last 10 games in all competitions is their worst since 1995.

          3

          Liverpool ended their three-game losing streak away from home in the Premier League, their worst streak since losing four on the trot in the 2011-12 season.

          2 and 27

          Darwin Nunez scored just his second goal in 10 appearances for Liverpool since the World Cup ended. He had failed to score with his last 27 shots before scoring against Newcastle.

          98

          Son Heung-Min scored his 98th Premier League goal - now the second-most by a Tottenham player in the competition (Harry Kane - 200).

          23

          The incredible Son-Kane partnership continued with the Englishman assisting his Korean teammate for the 23rd time, second only to Frank Lampard assisting Didier Drogba 24 times in PL history. Curiously enough, Son assisting Kane is third on the list, with 22.

          17

          James Ward-Prowse scored his 17th direct free kick in the Premier League - he is now one behind David Beckham's PL record of 18 direct free kick goals.

          LALIGA

          7 & 59

          Barcelona have their best-ever defensive record after 22 LaLiga games, conceding only seven goals so far. Their tally of 59 points is also the joint second-best ever in LaLiga history (achieved four times - thrice by Barcelona and once by Real Madrid), with Barca's 2010-11 season the best (61).

          24

          Robert Lewandowski's 24 goals in all competitions this season draws him level with Marcus Rashford for the third-most goals among players from clubs in the Top 5 European leagues. Only Erling Haaland (32) and Kylian Mbappé (27) have more.

          7

          Fede Valverde became the first Real Madrid midfielder to score seven goals in a LaLiga season since Isco in 2017-18. The Uruguayan, who scored a total of five league goals in as many seasons, has scored in his last four consecutive games for Madrid in all competitions.

          424

          Diego Simeone equalled Miguel Munoz's record (Real Madrid, 1959-1974) of most matches (424) in charge of a single LaLiga club. The Atleti boss will break the record against... Real Madrid next Saturday.

          148

          Antoine Griezmann scored his 148th goal for Atletico Madrid in all competitions. Only two players (Luis Aragones and Adrian Escudero) have crossed the 150-goal mark for the club. Griezmann's goal also happened to be his 14th against Athletic Bilbao - his most against any opponent in all competitions.

          SERIE A

          0

          Romelu Lukaku's goal ended a 10-game scoring for club and country, his longest since a streak of 18 straight games without a goal between 2011-12. It was also his first Serie A goal since Inter's opening-day win over Lecce.

          5

          Ciro Immobile scored two goals for Lazio this weekend, ending his career-worst five-game scoring drought in Serie A.

          BUNDESLIGA

          20

          Bayern Munich's 20-match unbeaten streak (16-0-4; W-L-D) in all competitions came to an end against Borussia Monchengladbach; the club's first loss since September 17th (1-0 against Augsburg).

          1

          Marco Reus' goal was Borussia Dortmund's first from a direct free-kick this season in Bundesliga. Only four teams have multiple direct free-kick goals (Leipzig, Leverkusen, Mainz, Eintracht).

          170

          It was also Reus' first Bundesliga goal since his winner against Hoffenheim on September 2, 2022 - 170 days ago.

          4

          Karim Adeyemi is on a four-game scoring streak for Dortmund across all competitions, the first player to do this since Erling Haaland (five between August - October 2021).

          LIGUE 1

          3

          It was close, but PSG finally ended their three-game losing streak in all competitions with their win over Lille - their longest such streak since Novemeber-December 2011 (the season PSG finished second to Montpellier).

          MESSI-RONALDO WATCH

          Lionel Messi had the Parc des Princes chanting his name after an injury-time goal earned PSG a much-needed win, while Cristiano Ronaldo brought up his first assist for Al-Nassr.

          1

          Lionel Messi's goal was the first game-winning, stoppage-time goal off a direct free kick in Ligue 1 since 2018 (Strasbourg). In our dataset (since 2010-11), this has only been done seven times in Ligue 1, and the first time by a PSG player in that period.

          699

          Messi also scored the 699th goal of his club career, with this his 61st scored from a free-kick.

          2

          Cristiano Ronaldo earned two assists for Al-Nassr after scoring four goals in his previous game, his first time scoring four goals in a club match since March 18, 2018, against Girona in the LaLiga. Ronaldo now has five goals and two assists in his four games in the Saudi Pro League.

          (Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)