In a weekend of big derbies, Bayern Munich came from behind to demolish Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United held off Manchester City and Real Madrid salvaged a draw late on at Atletico Madrid. Elsewhere, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Roma all won, as did Spurs, while Liverpool lost and Arsenal drew.
Here are the best numbers from all the action —
Premier League
1
Pep Guardiola has faced 67 managers more than three times across all competitions as a top-flight manager. Only one has beaten Guardiola more often than he has lost to him — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (W4, L3).
3
Solskjær is the first manager in Manchester United’s history to win each of his first three away derbies against City (all comps).
5
Fulham’s 1-0 win at Anfield was only the fifth time in PL history a newly-promoted side has beaten the reigning champions away from home. The last team to do so? Bournemouth at Chelsea, 1-0 back in December 2015.
6
Liverpool have lost each of their last six home games in the PL. They last time they suffered six home league defeats (1953-54), they finished bottom. That was the last campaign in which they were relegated.
8
More Anfield woe. Liverpool are now winless in their last eight home games in the Premier League (D2 L6), their worst winless top-flight run at Anfield in nearly 70 years (they went 10 winless between October 1951 and March 1952).
14
Record Klaxon! Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have now assisted one another for 14 PL goals this season, breaking Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton’s all-time record of 13 set in 1994-95 for Blackburn. Over the course of their Spurs careers, they have combined for 34 PL goals, second only behind Frank Lampard & Didier Drogba in PL history (36).
21
Derby defeat saw Man City’s English top-flight record 21-game winning streak in all competitions snapped. Only 2020-vintage Bayern Munich (23) and 2014’s Real Madrid (22) have had longer such streaks among teams from Europe’s top 5 leagues.
100
Harry Kane’s second goal of the evening was Tottenham’s 100th goal in all competitions this season, becoming the second club in Europe’s big-five leagues to reach that tally in 2020-21, after Bayern Munich (106).
La Liga
2
In major off-the-field news, Joan Laporta was elected president of FC Barcelona. This is his second term, after his first (between 2003-10) saw the club win a total of 12 trophies (2 UCL, 4 La Liga titles).
4
Zinedine Zidane is the second Real Madrid manager to avoid defeat in his first four away derbies against Atletico Madrid in La Liga history (W1 D3), after Luis Molowny in 1986 (W3 D1). In fact, Zidane has never lost at either the Wanda Metropolitano or the Camp Nou as manager.
371
Karim Benzema has now made the most league appearances for a non-Spaniard at Real Madrid, with 371. He passed Roberto Carlos (370) in the Madrid derby.
Bundesliga
30
Robert Lewandowski is the first player to reach 30+ league goals after 24 matchweeks in a top 5 European league since Lionel Messi did it in La Liga, way back in 2012-13 (37).
37
Quite naturally, Lewandowski’s astounding 37 goals in 33 games in all competitions this season tops the charts across Europe’s top 5 leagues. In second place, and it’s not really close, is Erling Haaland, who has 29 goals in 28 games in all comps.
Scottish Premiership
10
We take a detour from the top-5 leagues to Glasgow, where Rangers are celebrating their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade, having last won in 2010-11. This was a record extending 55th league title for them (four more than Celtic), and came 9 years after they were demoted to the Scottish 4th tier. They clinched it with an unbeaten 28-0-4 (W-L-D) record this season, with 6 games remaining
This is, of course, manager Steven Gerrard’s first career league title after failing to win a league in 19 seasons as a player.
Messi-Ronaldo watch
A quiet weekend for this corner of By The Numbers as Cristiano Ronaldo played a cameo role off the bench, and Lionel Messi figured he’d assist rather than goal. Having said that —
1
Lionel Messi has had a goal or assist in 11 of the past 12 matches across all competitions. Saturday was his first multi-assist game of the season. In 2019-20, he had 7 such games.
(Stats courtesy ESPN’s Stats & Information Group)
