Supporters, superstars and goals galore
In FIFA.com's latest weekly stats review, fresh feats from Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o feature alongside a landmark win for Marseille, a miserable run for Stuttgart and a big crowd in Florida.
62
thousand - or 62,510 in total - was the record attendance that packed into the Citrus Bowl to watch Orlando City and New York City's Major League Soccer curtain-raiser. Never before - not even during the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ - had the Floridian city witnessed such a huge crowd for a soccer match. The attendance was also the second-highest for an inaugural MLS match, a record still held by the 69,255 who watched LA Galaxy kick off the 1996 campaign against New York MetroStars. There was to be a happy ending for home fans, who had looked set for disappointment as injury time arrived with their team 1-0 down to the visitors from the Big Apple. It was then, in the 91st minute, that star man Kaka capped his MLS debut with a dramatic free-kick equaliser to spark joy in the sold-out arena.
1392
days after his last Serie A goal, Samuel Eto'o returned to scoring ways in Italy's top fight on Saturday. The Cameroon icon opened his account for Sampdoria in a 2-0 win over Cagliari and, in doing so, topped up a Serie A tally that had remained untouched since his last effort for Inter Milan on 15 May 2011. There was also a landmark goal for Gonzalo Higuain, who notched up his 150th league strike (30 for Napoli, 107 at Real Madrid and 13 with River Plate) in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Inter. Of Higuain's 30 goals in Italy, this was only the second to have come from outside the box. Juventus, meanwhile, caused something of a sensation last Thursday by losing at home - their first defeat at their Turin fortress since April 2013, 694 days before - with Fiorentina the shock 2-1 victors.
32
hat-tricks have now been scored by Lionel Messi for Barcelona in all competitions, setting yet another record. In the history of Spanish football, no-one has managed such an impressive haul in competitive matches, with Telmo Zarra having previously shared the record of 31 and Messrs Di Stefano and Ronaldo on 28 and 27 respectively. This latest treble - scored in Sunday's 6-1 win over Rayo Vallecano - was not only a landmark hat-trick, but Messi's fastest-ever, with all three goals racked up in the space of 11 minutes. It was the perfect way for the little Argentinian to mark his 400th start for the club and means that, in 222 appearances at the Camp Nou, he now has a remarkable 221 goals. More incredible still, this is now the sixth consecutive season in which Messi has scored a minimum of 41 goals for Barça.
9
home games without a win is the run that has secured Stuttgart a new and unwanted club record. Friday's 0-0 draw with Hertha Berlin was also the ninth home match in which Die Roten have failed to score this season. In the history of the Bundesliga, only two clubs - Tasmania Berlin in 1965/66 (11) and Greuther Furth in 2012/13 (ten) - have endured more goalless afternoons in front of their own fans, and Tasmania's record could yet come under threat before Stuttgart's campaign concludes. Paderborn are faring little better, having failed to score in seven of their last eight league encounters - and not found the net at home in three months. How each of these teams could do with an in-form striker like Alexander Meier. The Frankfurt striker is enjoying the most prolific season of his career, with goals number 17 and 18 of the current campaign - scored in his team's 4-2 defeat at Cologne - having taken him past Arjen Robben at the top of the Bundesliga scoring chart. Robben, though, also had reason to celebrate. He racked up his 100th Bundesliga win in Bayern Munich's 3-1 victory at Hannover, and has reached the century mark in just 126 appearances - setting a new record in the process.
5
months without an away win was the run that came to a spectacular end for Marseille on Friday. Having not triumphed on the road since early October, L'OM managed to thrash Toulouse 6-1 - the first time they have scored six away from home in Ligue 1 since an identical victory over Red Star 45 years ago in March 1970. But Marcelo Bielsa's side were not the only happy travellers in France over the weekend. Lyon also won handsomely on the road, beating Montpellier 5-1, with Alexandre Lacazette notching a double to move on to 23 for the season. This represents the best tally for a Lyon player since Sonny Anderson in 1999/00, and Lacazette - with 11 goals in his last nine appearances - shows no signs of slowing down.