While the FA Cup took the center stage over the weekend in the absence of the Premier League, other big leagues across Europe continued with big teams and big players making their impact.
Plymouth Argyle shocked Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, securing a memorable 1-0 win. Manchester City avoided a scare against Leyton Orient thanks to Kevin De Bruyne while Tottenham suffered against Aston Villa.
In Laliga, Real Madrid played out a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid and later Barcelona reduced the deficit in the points table with a 4-1 win over Sevilla. In Serie A, Napoli maintained their top spot despite 1-1 draw against Udinese. Atalanta's Mateo Retegui scored four goals in 5-0 win over Verona as the team remained in third spot. And in Bundesliga, table toppers Bayern Munich secured a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of stats from weekend's football matches:
FA CUP
0.44
Liverpool had an open play xG of just 0.44 against Plymouth Argyle, their lowest in a match under Arne Slot so far.
CUPSET IN THE FA CUP! PREMIER LEAGUE LEADERS LIVERPOOL ARE KNOCKED OUT IN THE FOURTH ROUND BY PLYMOUTH ARGYLE ❌
Plymouth are currently bottom of the Championship. pic.twitter.com/PVzUIi6aOP
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 9, 2025
5
Wolves' Matheus Cunha became the first player from Europe's big-five leagues to both have 5+ shots on target (5) and make 5+ tackles (7) in a game this season. It came against Blackburn.
26
Since his competition debut in January 2016, no player has been involved in more goals in the FA Cup proper than Kevin De Bruyne (26 -- 9 goals, 17 assists).
17
Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers has been directly involved in 17 goals this season in all competitions (11 goals, 6 assists). Only Cole Palmer (20) has more goal contributions among players aged 22 or below in the Premier League.
LA LIGA
37
Raphinha has been involved in 37 goals in 35 games for Barcelona this season in all competitions (24 goals, 13 assists).
Only Mohamed Salah (44 -- 26 goals, 18 assists) has been involved in more goals among all players from the top 5 leagues.
31
No player from Europe's top five leagues has scored more goals this season in all competitions than Robert Lewandowski -- 31.
No player from Europe's top five leagues has scored more goals this season in all competitions than Robert Lewandowski (31) ��
He can't stop scoring �� pic.twitter.com/3FHbgKjlB1
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 9, 2025
19
Robert Lewandowski is the first player to score 19+ goals in his first 22 games of a LaLiga season since Lionel Messi in 2019/20 (also 19 goals), both with FC Barcelona.
9
Only Ousmane Dembele (13) has scored more goals than Kylian Mbappe (9, equal with Mateo Retegui), this year in all competitions in the top five European leagues.
SERIE A
20
Atalanta's Mateo Retegui became the first player to score at least 20 goals in the first 24 Serie A games with his club.
BUNDESLIGA
27
Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso is undefeated in 27 consecutive Bundesliga away games (W20, D7) equalling the league record for a manager held by Udo Lattek (27 away games from 1985 to 1992).
After their draw today, Bayer Leverkusen will be going into their match vs. first-placed Bayern Munich eight points behind �� pic.twitter.com/KMVdxH0icT
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 8, 2025
9
Bayern Munich's Harry Kane became the first player in 25 years to score nine penalty goals in a Bundesliga season.
Only Paul Breitner in 1980-81 scored more penalty goals in a single league season (10).
20
Kane has successfully converted 20 penalties out of 20 for Bayern since joining the club last season.
LIGUE 1
21
PSG have not lost any of their first 21 games of a Ligue 1 season (W16, D5 in 2024-25) for the third time in their history, after doing so in 1985-86 and 2015-16.
Only Ousmane Dembélé (13) has scored more goals in all competitions than Kylian Mbappé (9) among players from teams in Europe's top five leagues since the start of 2025 ��
What a start to the year they're having �� pic.twitter.com/haTKUW7sqZ
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 9, 2025
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
16
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 16th league goal of the season for Al Nassr in their 3-0 win against Al Feiha.
Lionel Messi was in action in Inter Miami's pre-season friendly against Olimpia, scoring in his team's 5-0.
(Stats courtesy ESPN Stats & Information Group)