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          Salah's record 14; Mainoo breaks Rooney's mark; Heidenheim's incredible first: Stats

          • Sunaadh Sagar
          Apr 8, 2024, 05:30 AM

          It was a pivotal week in club football with plenty of crucial results, chief of which was Liverpool dropping points away to Manchester United, which saw Arsenal claim the lead of the Premier League with a win at Brighton. Manchester City endured a brief wobble at Crystal Palace but eventually won to stay a point behind their title rivals.

          Athletic Club won their first Copa del Rey in four decades, as LaLiga took a break. AC Milan, Juventus notched up wins to delay Inter's march to the Serie A title, while Roma triumphed in the Derby della Capitale against Lazio to close the gap to Bologna in fourth. Over in France, Brest and Monaco picked up wins to reduce PSG's lead at the top to ten points, after their draw against Clermont Foot at home.

          ESPN's By The Numbers has the best stats from the weekend:

          Premier League

          1 and 14

          Mo Salah became the first-ever player in the Premier League to score in four consecutive games against Manchester United at Old Trafford. His tally of 11 PL goals against Manchester United now eclipses that of Alan Shearer, while he has 14 in all competitions against them - which is the most he has scored against any other opponent for Liverpool and the most scored by any player in 214 games of the Liverpool-Manchester United rivalry.

          1

          Kobbie Mainoo is the first 18-year-old to score a PL goal vs Liverpool since Cesc Fàbregas in May 2005. He's also the youngest Manchester United player to score a Premier League goal vs Liverpool, breaking the mark set by Wayne Rooney in 2005.

          48.7

          Bruno Fernandes' goal from 48.7 yards is the longest goal by a Manchester United player in the Premier League since Wayne Rooney in March 2014 vs West Ham (53 yards)

          1/8

          Liverpool have only managed one win in eight games against the Premier League Top 6 this season (1W, 5D, 2L). Their eight-point total is bettered by ten other teams in the PL against the Top 6.

          9

          Kai Havertz scored his 9th goal of the PL season - his best ever season in England since joining Chelsea in 2021-22.

          14

          Bukayo Saka has scored 14 PL goals this season, the best tally of his career. He now has 45 goals at the age of 22, 1 away from tying Marcus Rashford and Emile Heskey for the 8th-most PL goals before turning 23.

          17

          Kevin De Bruyne has assisted 17 of Erling Haaland's goals for Manchester City; the most from one Premier League player to another since the start of last season (all competitions). Only Cole Palmer (17) and Darwin Núñez (15) have been involved in more goals in all competitions in 2024 (among Premier League players) than Kevin De Bruyne (14 - 3 goals, 11 assists).

          6

          Chelsea has allowed 6 stoppage-time goals in the Premier League this season, which is three more than the club has ever allowed in a single PL season.

          Copa del Rey

          40

          Athletic Bilbao, the second-most successful team in Copa del Rey history with 24 titles, ended a 40-year-drought of the Cup, defeating Mallorca in the final and winning their first Copa del Rey since 1984 (having lost 6 finals in the interim).

          1

          Mallorca joined Atletico Madrid as the only team to lose multiple Copa del Rey finals on penalties.

          13

          Only Florian Wirtz (18) and Álex Grimaldo (14), have more assists than Nico William's 13 assists (all comps) amongst players in Europe's Top 5 leagues this season.

          Serie A

          3

          Christian Pulisic has scored in 3 consecutive home games for the first time in his club career (all competitions). The American is tied with Dusan Vlahovic and teammates Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leão for the most goal contributions (11) in game-opening goals for a Serie A club in all competitions this season.

          7

          AC Milan hadn't won 7 straight games within a single season in all competitions since the 2004-05 season (9 straight from Feb. - March), until their 3-0 win in Lecce took their streak to seven.

          26

          Daniele De Rossi has picked up 26 points in 11 games with Roma (W8 D2 L1): only Rudi Garcia (31) and Eusebio Di Francesco (27) have done better in their first 11 games with Roma in Serie A.

          Bundesliga

          28

          Bayer Leverkusen have remained undefeated in their 28th game of this Bundesliga season (W24 D4) - a joint-Bundesliga record, only Bayern Munich previously went undefeated in their first 28 games in 2013-14. Xabi Alonso's side are now one win away from winning the Bundesliga.

          1

          FC Heidenheim, who have spent 177 years of their 178 in existence amongst the lower tiers of German football, have faced Bayern Munich a total of three times in their history. This season, their first-ever in the Bundesliga, saw them witness their only win over the Bavarian giants, coming back from 0-2 down to win 3-2. Bayern had won 62 and drawn 2 of their last 64 games they had led by multiple goals. Heidenheim's win was also the first by a newly-promoted side against Bayern.

          24

          Serhou Guirassy scored his 24th goal of the Bundesliga season, tying 2008-09 Mario Gómez for the most in a single season in Stuttgart's history. The pair are the only players over the last 30 years with at least 26 goals for Stuttgart in a season in all competitions.

          Ligue 1

          435

          Marquinhos played his 435th match in all competitions for Paris Saint-Germain against Clermont Foot, equaling the club record held by Jean-Marc Pilorget.

          Messi - Ronaldo watch

          Lionel Messi was in the spotlight both on and off the pitch (a reported argument with Monterrey players in their dressing room) this week as he made his return from injury. Cristiano Ronaldo, however, wasn't in action over the weekend, with Al Nassr's next scheduled game on the 19th of April.

          4 and 12

          Lionel Messi needed only 12 minutes to find the net for Inter Miami after his return from injury, scoring his 5th goal of the season in a 2-2 draw against Colorado Rapids.

          (Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)