Starlets, Super Cups and comeback kings
 |
| AFP |
In FIFA.com’s latest weekly stats review, Super Cup glory for Barcelona and Juventus features alongside River Plate’s Copa Libertadores conquest, Angers’ triumphant French Ligue 1 return and Reece Oxford’s dream debut.
1501 days after being relegated to Argentina’s second tier for the first time, River Plate last week became champions of South America and completed a unique treble. A resounding 3-0 win over Tigres in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final left Los Millonarios holding all three CONMEBOL titles simultaneously – a feat never before achieved. River’s triumph, on the back of San Lorenzo’s last season, also ensured that the Libertadores trophy remained in Argentina for successive years for the first time since 2000-01. It was the Buenos Aires giants’ first success in South America’s top club competition since 1996; indeed, Lucas Alario’s opener last Wednesday was their first goal in a Libertadores final since Hernan Crespo struck the decisive blow 19 years ago. Marcelo Gallardo, a member of the playing squad in ’96, was the coach on this occasion, and duly became just the seventh man to lift the trophy in both roles.
43 years after they last led the French standings, Angers are back at the Ligue 1 summit after a momentous opening-day win on their return to the top flight. Les Scoïstes were playing their first match in Ligue 1 for over two decades – 7749 days to be exact – and made up for lost time with a 2-0 win away to Montpellier. That left them leading the table on goal difference from the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, who also got off to a winning start by beating Lille 1-0. This victory, which was secured with ten men, bucked a recent trend, with PSG winning on the opening day for the first time since 2010 and doing so away from home for the first time in 19 years. The reigning champions have won a club record ten league matches on the bounce and are now just four away from matching the division’s all-time benchmark, set by Bordeaux in 2009.
16 years and 236 days was the tender age at which Reece Oxford helped West Ham United to a shock 2-0 win at Arsenal on Sunday. In doing so, the impressive England U-17 star became the second-youngest player to start an English Premier League match, trailing only former youngster Jose Baxter. Oxford was outstanding as West Ham ended a run of nine straight league defeats against Arsenal, and won at the Emirates Stadium for the first time since 2007 – when they inflicted the Gunners’ first-ever defeat at the stadium. But if the Hammers teenager was the game’s hero, Petr Cech was its villain, with both goals attributed to goalkeeping mistakes. It left the Czech Republic stalwart having already lost more home league matches for Arsenal – after one game played – than he did in 69 outings for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.
9 goals were served up by Barcelona and Sevilla last night in the highest-scoring UEFA Super Cup final of all time. The thrilling all-Spanish encounter comfortably surpassed the previous record – Juventus’s 6-1 first-leg win over Paris Saint-Germain in 1996 – and is the most goal-filled of any European final since Liverpool beat Alaves by the same scoreline in the 2001 UEFA Cup decider. In the history of UEFA competitions, in fact, it is only topped by one, iconic final: Real Madrid’s celebrated 7-3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden in 1960. There were other notable statistics to emerge too, with Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta equalling Xavi’s record by winning their 25th trophy for Barcelona. Messi also marked his 586th appearances for the club by scoring two direct free-kicks in a competitive match for the first time. Dani Alves, meanwhile, emulated Paolo Maldini by appearing in a record-equalling fifth Super Cup, and has now won nine European titles – a tally only Maldini and Arie Haan can match. The hero, though, was Pedro, whose second Super Cup goal was a mirror image of his first, both having come in the 115th minute of extra time and been decisive in securing Barça the trophy.
6 Italian Supercoppas have now been won by Gianluigi Buffon, equalling the competition record first set by Dejan Stankovic. The Juventus legend reached this latest landmark while helping his team make history in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Lazio in Shanghai. This latest Supercoppa title was, after all, Juve’s seventh, taking them past AC Milan as the most competition’s most successful team. Their victory also maintained the traditional dominance of Italy’s league champions in this fixture, with the Coppa Italia winners having won just seven of the 28 editions thus far. Mario Mandzukic, meanwhile, kept up his record as a Super Cup specialist. The Croatian striker scored the opener and has now found the target in the Super Cups of Italy, Spain and Germany - for Juve, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively - in the space of the last four seasons.