A Cristiano Ronaldo hat trick headlined yet another incredible weekend of football in Europe's top leagues. Manchester United's win against Norwich City combined with Spurs' loss vs Brighton and Arsenal's defeat vs Southampton means the race for the top four spots continues to remain tight. In the FA Cup, Liverpool blitzed past Manchester City while Chelsea were too strong for Crystal Palace. Over in Spain, a late, late Karim Benzema winner saw Real Madrid come from behind to win 2-3 at Sevilla. Madrid now lead Sevilla, Barcelona (who have two games in hand) and Atletico Madrid by 15 points. In France, PSG won Le Classique against Marseille 2-1, which means their lead now is a whopping 15 points. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both win, keeping the gap at the top at nine points. With that, By The Numbers brings you the best stats from the weekend: Premier League2Brighton & Hove Albion are only the second side in PL history to win away at both Arsenal and Tottenham in consecutive Premier League matches, after Hull City in October 2008. 4Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick on Saturday was the fourth PL hat trick scored against Norwich City this season. That's the joint-most any side has conceded in a single PL season (also Ipswich Town 1994-95, Derby County 2007-08 and Wigan Athletic 2009-10). 17y 81dA rather curious stat. Ronaldo is 17 years and 81 days older than Anthony Elanga, who assisted his first goal on Saturday. It's the most a Manchester United goalscorer has been older than the player who assisted him in their PL history. FA Cup2Manchester City are only the second side to be eliminated from the semi-final stage of the FA Cup in three consecutive seasons, after Manchester United (from 1963-64 to 1965-66). 2Chelsea and Liverpool are just the second pair of teams to contest both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in the same season, after Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday in 1992-93. 3Chelsea are the first team to reach the men's FA Cup final in three consecutive seasons since Arsenal (between 2000-01 and 2002-03). 100%This is a remarkable stat. Throughout his managerial career, Thomas Tuchel has progressed from 11/11 semi-final ties (30 goals, 4 conceded). LaLiga3Sevilla have now lost a game in which they held a two-goal lead at halftime three times since 2010/11 (ESPN data set). No other team has lost more than one such match. 36Karim Benzema now has 36 goal involvements this season in LaLiga (25G/11 A). That is the most among players in Europe's top five leagues, and 15 more than anyone else in LaLiga (VinÃcius Jr. 21). 99:20At 99:20, Yannick Carrasco's goal was the latest game-winning goal in LaLiga since 2010-11 (ESPN data set). 224This one of the most underrated feats in modern football. Inaki Williams has now played in every LaLiga game for the past SIX YEARS. That's 224 games in a row. Never injured. Never suspended. Never left out. Incredible. Primeira Liga (Portugal)58FC Porto's 7-0 win against Portimonense means their league unbeaten streak is at 58 matches, which ties AC Milan's streak from 1991-93 as the longest in one of the top European leagues (England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands). Messi Ronaldo watchThis past weekend was the Cristiano Ronaldo show, as he scored a hat trick, his third goal the first direct free kick he's scored since September 2020 (for Portugal in the UEFA Nations League). 2Ronaldo is the only player to have scored 2 PL hat tricks after turning 35. 16Ronaldo has now scored 20+ club goals in 16 consecutive seasons in all competitions. Sixteen. 20Ronaldo is the first Manchester United No. 7 to score 20 goals across all competitions since...Ronaldo himself did it in 2008-09. 60This was Ronaldo's 60th hat-trick of his professional career for club and country (50th at club level). 30-30-30Of those 60, Ronaldo has 30 hat-tricks before turning 30 and 30 hat-tricks after turning 30. (Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)
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