Football
Anirudh Menon 3y

Ronaldo catches up with Messi, Guardiola fastest to 200 - best stats from the weekend

League leaders in four of Europe's top 5 leagues -- Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan - won, while in Ligue 1, Lille's 1-1 draw at 16th-placed Strasbourg allowed PSG to cut their lead down to two points. Elsewhere, Barcelona, AC Milan, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool won. Manchester United and Chelsea drew (rather dully, to each other), as did Juventus.

A cracking weekend of action, then, and the numbers it's thrown up are just as good --


Premier League

0

Thomas Tuchel has had a good start to life at the Bridge, hasn't he? He has now become just the second manager to see his side keep a clean sheet in his first four home matches in the PL, after ... Brendan Rodgers in 2011-12 with Swansea City.

0/2

Chelsea and Manchester United have drawn 0-0 in both of their league meetings in a season for just the second time. The last time they did it? The 1921-22 season.

1

This was Arsenal's first away victory against a team starting the day in the top three of the PL table since January 2015 (2-0 vs. Manchester City). They had been winless in their last 14 such games coming into today (D3 L11).

5

Leeds lost to Villa thanks to a fifth minute Anwar El Ghazi goal. This was the fifth goal they have conceded in the opening five minutes of a PL match this season. That is the joint-most among clubs in Europe's top five leagues, tied with Crystal Palace and Manchester United.

20

Manchester City are in some form right now. They have now extended the longest-ever winning run by an English top-flight side in all comps to 20 matches.

21

At the opposite end of the table, Sheffield United's 2-0 loss to Liverpool was their 21st PL defeat of the season. The last time any English football side lost as many as 21 of their first 26 games was in 1970-71, when Newport County did it in the fourth tier.

200

Pep Guardiola has now won 200 matches as Manchester City manager. He did this in 273 games -- the fewest games needed by a manager of an English top-flight side to reach 200 wins in all competitions.

500

More Guardiola goodness. City's win over West Ham was also Guardiola's 500th victory in charge of a top-flight side in all competitions -- Barcelona 179 wins, Bayern Munich 121, City 200.

7000

Liverpool's second goal against Sheffield was their 7,000th in the English top-flight. They are only the second team to reach that tally, after neighbours Everton (7,108 goals).

Serie A

15

The penalty, which Franck Kessie converted to give AC Milan the lead against Roma, was the 15th they have been awarded this season. That is most by any team in Europe's top five leagues (no other club has been given more than 10).

31

AC Milan have now earned 31 points on the road this Serie A season -- the most of any team in Europe's top five leagues.

La Liga

16

No team in Europe's top 5 leagues has allowed less than the 16 goals Atletico Madrid have conceded this season (tied with Manchester City).

308

Their 2-0 win over Villarreal was Diego Simeone's 308th as Atletico manager in all competitions, matching the club's all-time record set by Luis Aragones. Simeone took a hundred less games to get to the mark than Aragones (512 vs. 612).

Bundesliga

9

Schalke have fired their manager Christian Gross after their 16th loss of the season (in 23 league games). They now have only nine points this season (worst among the top 5 leagues), and they are the only team with one win or fewer among the top 5 leagues (W1, L16, D6). They have a goal difference of -45, almost twice the next lowest in the division (Arminia, -23).

The dismissal means that their next coach will be their fifth this season (after David Wagner, Manuel Baum, Huub Stevens and Gross), setting a record for most coaches for a team in a single season in the Bundesliga.

32

At the other end of the table, Robert Lewandowski cannot stop scoring. He now has 33 goals in 32 games in all competitions this season, to extend his lead for most among players from Europe's top 5 leagues.

Messi-Ronaldo watch

This weekend, Lionel Messi scored, Cristiano Ronaldo scored, and the sky remained blue.

19

This was Cristiano Ronaldo's 19th Serie A goal, tying Andre Silva and Messi as the second-highest league scorers in Europe's top 5 leagues. That man Lewandowski leads, and leads well, with 28.

30

This was Ronaldo's 30th away goal since joining Juventus in the 2018-19 season. Only one player in the top 5 leagues has more over that same stretch. (Yes, it's Lewandowski again. He has 37.)

38

Messi's goal against Sevilla was his 38th in 42 career matches against them. It extends his personal best against a single team. Incidentally, Cristiano Ronaldo's 27 goals in 18 games vs. Sevilla are also his most vs. a single opponent.

The GOATs simply love the Andalusians.

(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)

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