Another weekend of high-class league football, another weekend of superb stats for us to dig into. England saw Manchester City, Liverpool (very late), and Manchester United all win, while Chelsea were stunned by high flying West Ham United. In Germany, an explosive Der Klassiker saw Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2, which means Bayern sit pretty atop the league, 4 points ahead of their big rivals. AC Milan and Inter Milan winning, combined with Napoli losing to Atalanta means the top four reads Milan, Inter, Napoli, Atalanta -- all separated by a mere four points. In Spain meanwhile, Real Madrid have opened up quite the lead atop LaLiga (8 from Sevilla, who have a game in hand) after a 2-0 win at the Anoeta. Barcelona are seventh after losing to third placed Real Betis, while Atletico Madrid are now fourth after a shock loss to Mallorca.
Premier League
1
Ralf Rangnick is the first of the six Germans to manage in the PL to win his first game in the competition. Felix Magath, Jurgen Klopp, Jan Siewert, Daniel Farke and Thomas Tuchel all previously failed to do so.
3
Chelsea have conceded more than once in a game in all competitions for only the third time in 53 matches under Thomas Tuchel (previously vs. West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa).
12
Manchester United won possession in the final third 12 times against Crystal Palace on Sunday, at least five more occasions than they managed in any other PL game this season. The Rangnick effect?
13
Liverpool have scored 13 game-winning goals in the 90th minute or later in the PL under Klopp, four more than any other side in the competition since his arrival.
48%
Among the 401 players to have scored 20+ Premier League goals, only Victor Anichebe (13/26, 50%) has scored a higher percentage of those as a substitute than Divock Origi (10/21, 48%).
77%
Bernardo Silva has the best the best winning percentage in PL history (minimum 100 apps) at 77% (112/145):
100
More City goodness. Kyle Walker (102 with Spurs, 100 with Man City) has become just the third player to be on the winning side in 100+ PL games with two different clubs, after Phil Neville (Manchester United and Everton) and Ashley Cole (Arsenal and Chelsea).
LaLiga
0
This is the first time Real Betis have had a cleansheet against Barcelona since Sept. 28, 2002 in a 3-0 LaLiga win. Interestingly, Joaquin (an unused sub for Betis) and Xavi (now managing Barca) played in that match (Joaquin scored). But that was in Seville, the last time it happened at the Camp Nou? The 2nd leg of the Copa del Rey quarter finals in Feb. 1994 (0-1 Betis). A funky factoid from that game -- Sergio Busquets' father Carles was the keeper for Barcelona.
10
Real Madrid are the first team with different players to score 10+ goals in the top five European leagues this season: Karim Benzema (12) and Vinícius Junior (10).
24
Real Madrid has scored 24 second-half goals in LaLiga this season, 1 more than Liverpool for the most in Europe's top 5 leagues.
Serie A
2
Venezia has now joined Lecce (Oct 23, 2011) as just the 2nd side from the top 5 European leagues since 2010-11 to lose a match after holding a 3-goal halftime lead (they lost 3-4 to Verona). Before Sunday, teams were 689 W, 1 L, 15 D with Lecce vs. Milan being the lone loss.
2
Giovanni Simeone has become the second foreign player to have scored 10+ goals in a single season for four different sides in Serie A (Genoa, Fiorentina, Cagliari and Verona), after Hernan Crespo (Parma, Lazio, AC Milan and Inter).
30
Dusan Vlahovic is the fourth player ever to score at least 30 goals in a single Serie A calendar year before turning 22. Oh, and it's some list -- Giuseppe Meazza in 1930, Felice Borel in 1933 and Antonio Angelillo in 1958 are the others.
2000
Gian Piero Gasperini (at Atalanta) has become the second manager to be in charge for 2000 consecutive days on a Serie A bench in the three-points-for-a-win era (since 1994/1995), after Carlo Ancelotti at AC Milan (2765).
Bundesliga
2
Jude Bellingham is some player, isn't he? Aged 18 years and 158 days, he is the youngest player in Europe's big five leagues to set up two goals in a single league game this season. And what a game to do it in.
6
SC Freiburg scored 6 goals in their first half vs. Borussia Monchengladbach. They are the only team in Europe's top 5 leagues with 6+ goals in the first half this season. In fact, among Europe's top 5 leagues, Freiburg is the first to score 6 goals in the first half since Bayer Leverkusen did it on May 5, 2019 vs. Eintracht Frankfurt.
7
Bayern Munich have extended their winning streak in Der Klassiker to 7 games (they already held the series record).
16
It really is Robert Lewandowski's world. He has scored 16 goals after 14 Bundesliga matchdays for the 2nd consecutive season (19 in 2020-21).
22
Lewandowski has scored 22 goals vs. Dortmund in the Bundesliga. No one has scored more goals against Dortmund in Bundesliga history. One of their own.
117
Oh, and he equalled yet another record on Sunday. Lewandowski has scored his 117th away goal in the German Bundesliga - equalling Klaus Fischer with the most away goals in the history of the competition.
Messi Ronaldo watch
Nada. Nothing. Until mid-week then, or if there's rotation (considering Manchester United and PSG have both qualified), next week.
(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)