By the numbers came out a day earlier than scheduled, when a certain Argentine forced its hand. As promised, though, we have updated this midweek's numbers below after last-night's action.
Premier League
Burnley have moved to eighth with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, Manchester United retain fifth with a 3-0 thumping of Brighton & Hove Albion. The race for top four has become even closer after Leicester City lost to Everton 2-1 and Chelsea went down at West Ham United 3-2. Arsenal, meanwhile, scored four past hapless Norwich City to climb to seventh in the table.
10
Chelsea have lost their 10 league games this season; only in 2015-16, when they finished 10th, have they suffered more defeats in a single campaign in the Roman Abramovich era (12).
29/29
All 29 of Michail Antonio's PL goals have been scored from inside the box. Among current PL players, only Gabriel Jesus has a bigger 100% record (37/37).
50/79
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has hit 50 PL goals faster (79 appearances) than any other Arsenal player. Thierry Henry held the previous record at 83. Aubameyang is the sixth fastest to this total among all PL players -- the fastest being Andy Cole, who scored 50 in 65 PL games.
6
Mason Greenwood's six goals in 2019-20 is the most by a player aged 18 or below in a single PL season since Wayne Rooney scored nine for Everton in 2003-04. Greenwood is also the first Manchester United player to hit this mark (in a single season) before turning 19.
7
This is a quite remarkable stat. Manchester United have kept seven clean sheets in their last 12 Premier League matches - as many as they managed in their first 40 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
13
Burnley's Nick Pope has now kept more clean sheets (13) than any other goalkeeper in the PL this season.
36
An out-of-turn factoid to mark the reported departure of Leroy Sane from the PL -- since the start of 2017-18, only Kevin De Bruyne (49) has more assists in all competitions than Sane (36) among PL players. Sané has played 2779 minutes fewer than De Bruyne in this period.
La Liga
Barcelona stumbled once again, letting the lead slip twice as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Atletico Madrid. Barca remain second, a point behind Real Madrid, who play Getafe later tonight and have the chance to extend the lead to four with five games to go. Atletico remain third, two points ahead of Sevilla.
8
Nabil Fekir's red card in Real Betis' 2-0 loss to Villareal was the club's 8th this season, more than any other side in La Liga this season. They are also the only team to have more than one player sent off twice this campaign -- Fekir and Zouhair Feddal.
1
Diego Costa has scored an own goal for the first time in the top-flight (194 appearances in La Liga and 89 in the Premier League). He now has as many own goals and red cards against Barcelona as he has goals in 15 career meetings (all 1).
3
Barcelona have drawn three of their last four La Liga games (W1) - that is as many as they had in their previous 26 matches in the competition (W19 D3 L4).
4
Suffering from worse form, though, are Real Sociedad, who lost 2-1 to Getafe. Before the league was suspended, Sociedad were 1 point away from 3rd-placed Atlético Madrid and were well en route to securing a Champions League spot. Since returning, they have gone 0-4-1 (W-L-D), including four straight losses, and now find themselves in 7th place and 11 points away from third place, with their Champions League dream fading fast.
20
Atlético Madrid are winless in their last 20 matches against Barcelona in La Liga (D6 L14). The only opponent who they have gone longer without a victory against in the competition's history are Real Madrid. (23 games between 2000 and 2013). In fact, Diego Simeone has at least one win as Atletico manager against every other team he has faced in league competition.
Serie A
Juventus continue their relentless march to their ninth straight scudetti with a 3-1 win over Genoa, while Lazio came from behind to beat Torino 2-1 and stay within four points of Juve. Inter stay within four points of Lazio with a 6-0 thrashing of Brescia.
6
Inter Milan have registered six different goalscorers in a single Serie A match for the first time since Nov 2003 vs Reggina.
96
Ciro Immobile has scored 96 Serie A goals under Simone Inzaghi, the most for a player under a single manager in the Italian top-flight during the three-points-for-a-win era. The previous best? Ninety-five -- Filippo Inzaghi under Carlo Ancelotti.
22
Lazio are tied with Atalanta for most points rescued from losing positions this season in Serie A, at 22.
29
Ciro Immobile has scored 29 goals in 29 league games this season. The only player to do better in the history of the league, at this stage, was Inter's Antonio Valentin Angelillo with 31 goals (in 1958-59). Immobile is two ahead of Gonzalo Higuaín's pace (27 in 29 games) when the Argentine set the all-time Serie A single-season scoring record of 36 goals in 2015-16.
76
Meanwhile, Benevento have just been promoted to Serie A for the second time in their history (after 2016/17) thanks to a 1-0 win over Juve Stabia. They now have 76 points in 31 games, a record in the history of Serie B. You might have heard of their manager - Filippo Inzaghi.
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
Lionel Messi becomes only the second active player to hit 700 competitive goals for club and country, the other being... guess who.
Messi reached the mark with the most nonchalant of panenkas against Jan Oblak. He reached the mark 112 - ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE - games faster than Cristiano Ronaldo did (862 games to 974). Both, though, reached the landmark with penalty kicks!
Ronaldo, meanwhile, celebrated the moment with an absolute screamer against Genoa, to take his total tally to 728.
700
Messi now has 630 goals for Barcelona to go with 70 for Argentina. (Of Ronaldo's 728, 629 have come for the various clubs he has played, 99 for Portugal.)
Here is when, and against whom, Messi has achieved each century -
1 - Albacete in 2005
100 - Dynamo Kiev in 2009
200 - Real Madrid in 2011
300 - Rayo Vallecano in 2012
400 - Granada in 2014
500 - Valencia in 2016
600 - Atlético Madrid in 2018
700 - Atlético Madrid in 2020
Oh, if you wanted a body part-wise breakdown, we've got you covered: Left foot - 582, Right foot - 92, Head - 24, Other - 2.
Messi is the seventh player to reach the 700 mark in the recorded history of the game. And we have more details on that, here.
32
Messi's 32 career goals vs. Atlético Madrid are his second most vs. any opponent (highest being 37 vs. Sevilla).
30
Ronaldo scored his 30th goal from at least 25 meters away from goal in the last 10 league seasons, most among all players in Europe's top 5 leagues. This includes his latest, from 29 metres v Genoa. The next closest is Messi, with 21.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)