Manchester City and Liverpool playing out yet another high quality episode of their incredible rivalry (2-2, this time) highlighted an action packed weekend in Europe's top-5 leagues. Elsewhere in England, Manchester United slumped to defeat at Everton, Chelsea swatted aside Southampton, Tottenham ripped apart Aston Villa on the counter and Arsenal were beaten by Brighton. Over in Spain, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Sevilla all won while 17th-placed Mallorca upset Atletico Madrid. In France, PSG were back doing PSG things as they steamrolled Clermont Foot 6-1. They continue to lead the league by 12 points. In Germany Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both won to keep the gap between one and two at nine points. A dull 0-0 draw for AC Milan at Torino has allowed Inter Milan (who beat Hellas Verona) to close the gap at the top of Serie A to two points. Inter have a game in hand, too.
By The Numbers brings you the best stats from the weekend:
PREMIER LEAGUE
1
Sunday's blockbuster vs Liverpool was the first time Man City have scored first and not won in the PL all season. They had won all 22 such games before this.
1-2-3
This is a quite incredible stat. Since Dejan Kulusevski's PL debut in February, Spurs trio Harry Kane (13), Son Heung-min (12) and Kulusevski himself (9) rank first, second, and third for goal contributions (goals + assists) in the competition.
21
Harry Kane has now given 21 PL assists for Son Heung-min. In terms of assists to a specific teammate, that's second only to Frank Lampard, who had provided 24 assists for Didier Drogba in the PL.
34
Another one for the trivia buffs - Son Heung-min has scored 34 goals with his left foot in the PL; the only right-footed player with more left-footed goals in the competition... Harry Kane (39)
24
It may not have gone according to plan, but Saturday's game vs Everton was Marcus Rashford's 200th in the PL. Aged 24 years and 160 days, he is the youngest player to reach the milestone, overtaking Ryan Giggs (24y 295d).
47%
Manchester United have won just 47% of their PL games under Ralf Rangnick (8/17). This is the lowest win rate of any Manchester United manager in the competition.
339 - 338
Premier League points across the last four seasons after Sunday's game... Man City: 339. Liverpool: 338
Man City currently lead their rivals by one point this season!
LIGUE 1
3+3
Kylian Mbappe and Neymar are the first pair of teammates to score a hat-trick in the same match in any of Europe's big five leagues since Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy for Leicester against Southampton in October 2019.
The last time this feat was achieved in Ligue 1? PSG themselves, against Guingamp in January 2019 (Mbappe & Edinson Cavani).
LALIGA
7
Barcelona's 7-game winning streak in league play, maintained on Sunday with a 92nd minute winner, is the longest active winning streak in Europe's top 5 leagues.
9
The most assists in Europe's top 5 leagues this calendar year (2022) is nine - A mark achieved by both Lionel Messi and... Ousmane Dembele.
13
This was Real Madrid's 13th straight win at home vs Getafe in league play (has not lost since Feb 2008), the longest active streak of home wins against the same opponent in the competition.
BUNDESLIGA
300
What a player, what a career. Thomas Muller has just won his 300th Bundesliga game - the first outfielder to reach that mark in the history of the Bundesliga.
MESSI RONALDO WATCH
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't do much against Everton, but he did make news for his off-field behaviour. Lionel Messi, meanwhile, did something rather special on the pitch.
1
Messi is the first player in Ligue 1 history to assist three goals in a single game more than once in a season.