Another entertaining weekend of European football with title races in full swing. Manchester City earned a comeback win over Manchester United to stay within one point of Premier League table-toppers Liverpool, while Chelsea banked on Conor Gallagher’s 90th minute goal to get past Leeds United in the FA Cup.
Over in Spain, Atletico Madrid beat Real Betis to remain unbeaten in 25 LaLiga matches, while Barcelona extended their away unbeaten run to 13. Real Madrid played out their third draw in five games to drop points yet again but continue to remain at the top of the table. Juventus were beaten by Napoli in Serie A, while Bayer Leverkusen notched up their fifth win on the trot to hold on to the #1 spot in Bundesliga.
ESPN’s By The Numbers has the best stats from the weekend:
FA Cup
1
Lewis Koumas is the first Liverpool player to debut and score for the team in an FA Cup game since Virgil van Dijk. He is also the second-youngest player in Liverpool’s history to score in the FA Cup and the first Liverpool player to score in his team debut since Darwin Nunez did so on July 30, 2022.
2
Nicolas Jackson scored his second FA Cup goal of the season against Leeds United, which makes him the first Chelsea players 22 years or younger with multiple goals in a single FA Cup campaign since at least 2017-18.
4
Kevin De Bruyne has four assists on through balls in all competitions this season, tied with Ilkay Gündogan and Florian Wirtz for the most by any player from Europe’s top 5 leagues this season. De Bruyne has played 12 games while Gündogan has played 38 and Wirtz 31.
6/7
Manchester United have won six of their last seven away FA Cup matches. The club has not won four straight away from Old Trafford in the competition since 2018-19.
0.81
Erling Haaland’s missed shot in the 45th minute against Manchester United had an xG of 0.81 That’s the highest xG on a shot that did not result in a goal for Haaland since he joined Man City.
HAALAND MISSED FROM POINT BLANK RANGE ���� pic.twitter.com/qlrCYPFC0H
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 3, 2024
1
Sunday marked the first time that Manchester United lost a Premier League match in which they led at halftime since September 2014 vs Leicester City (L3-5). They had gone 123-20-0 in their last 143 PL matches in which they led at HT.
5
Marcus Rashford netted his fifth career goal vs Manchester City in Premier League. Manchester United have won every time Rashford scored or assisted vs Man City in Etihad Stadium…until Sunday.
Manchester United have lost their first Premier League game from a winning position at halftime in over nine years.
They hadn’t lost a match in 143 games when leading at halftime. pic.twitter.com/LPuMh6yjnf
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 3, 2024
99′
At 90’+9, Darwin Nunez’s goal against Nottingham Forest was Liverpool’s latest ever game-winning goal in the Premier League
6
Girona have dropped points in six of their last 10 LaLiga games (4-3-3) after only dropping points in three of their first 17 league games this season (14-2-1).
13
Barcelona are unbeaten in 13 away games this LaLiga season (7-6-0). They remain the only team without a road loss this season and are one of the four teams without a road loss in Europe’s top 5 leagues this season (PSG, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan).
20
Alvaro Morata has 20 goals this season across competitions: this matches his career-high for most goals in a season in all competitions (also 20 in 2016-17 and 2020-21).
21
Real Madrid have extended their LaLiga unbeaten streak to 21 games (15-6-0 W-D-L) – the club’s longest since a 25-game streak from Feb.-Sept. 2021. It is their longest single-season LaLiga streak since 2011-12 (23).
25
Atletico Madrid are now unbeaten in 25 LaLiga matches, their best ever run since a 27-game streak from May 2013-Nov. 2014 (18-1-1 W-D-L at home in all competitions this season).
76
Sergio Ramos, who scored his 76th career goal in LaLiga, has become Sevilla’s oldest ever goalscorer in the league. (37y 338d)
5
Napoli have clinched five straight home Serie A wins over Juventus for the first time in their history.
60
Victor Osmihen has 60 Serie A goals to his name since joining Napoli ahead of 2020-21 season. Only Lautaro Martínez (81), Dusan Vlahovic (70) and Ciro Immobile (65) have more Serie A goals in that span. He is only the 3rd player in Napoli’s history to score at least 10 goals in 4 consecutive seasons in Serie A, after Diego Armando Maradona (between 1984/85 and 1987/88) and Attila Sallustro (between 1929/30 and 1932/33).
VICTOR OSIMHEN HAT TRICK AND ASSIST FOR NAPOLI ��
He’s been unstoppable with 5 goals in 3 matches since making his return from AFCON ��
Incredible run of form! pic.twitter.com/H2i8ME703J
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 28, 2024
65
Inter Milan’s 65 goals scored in the Serie A this season are the most by any team in Europe’s top 5 leagues (Liverpool and Bayern each have 63).
122
Paulo Dybala with 122 goals, is now the fifth Argentinian with most goals scored in the Serie A. He’s surpassed Mauro Icardi’s tally of 121.
1/5
Bayern Munich drew with Freiburg to drop points once again in the Bundesliga title race. Bayern have only won one match in their last five across competitions.
BAYERN DRAW AGAINST FREIBURG 2-2 AND DROP POINTS IN THE BUNDESLIGA AGAIN ��
Leverkusen could open up a 10 point lead on Bayern if they win at the weekend.
Bayern have only won one match in their last five across competitions. pic.twitter.com/zRuAEJRMIU
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 1, 2024
20
Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy has reached 20 goals in Bundesliga this season – in Europe’s top 5 leagues, only Harry Kane (27), Lautaro Martínez (23) and Kylian Mbappe (21) have more.
24
Bayer Leverkusen’s 24-game Bundesliga unbeaten start to the season ties its longest in club history (2009-10) and ties the 2nd-longest league unbeaten run to start a season in Bundesliga history (record is 28 by Bayern in 2013-14). They are now on an unbeaten streak of 34 games across competitions, just one shy of tying AC Milan (1991-92) for fourth best start by club in Europe’s top 5 Leagues.
Bayer Leverkusen go 10 POINTS CLEAR of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga ��
Xabi Alonso’s masterclass continues �� pic.twitter.com/c0ABIUQRdl
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 3, 2024
Ligue 1
2
Kylian Mbappe has been subbed out of PSG’s last two games with his team tied or trailing. Mbappé had not been subbed out (for non-injury related reasons) of a game in which PSG was not winning since Nov. 20, 2020 vs Monaco.
Kylian Mbappé started PSG’s match against Monaco but was taken off at the half by coach Luis Enrique.
He was seen on his phone in the tunnel in the 49th minute of the match. pic.twitter.com/5N6hbCzHgo
– ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 1, 2024
Messi-Ronaldo Watch
500
Following his brace on Sunday, Lionel Messi now has 500 goals for his clubs across leagues. He has now scored 824 career goals (club and country).
1
Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for one match after appearing to make an obscene gesture following Al Nassr’s 3-2 win over Al Shabab.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)
