The Week in Numbers - WORLD FOOTBALL
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- Could CR7 and Co eclipse a 55-year-old record set by ‘The King’ and amigos?
- Could ‘The Jewel’ do something only 'Wazza' had this decade?
- Could ‘The Tiger’ join ‘King George’ on a numeric throne?
73 successive games is what Real Madrid scored in before a dumbfounding 1-0 defeat at home to Real Betis agonisingly denied them breaking the record Pele helped Santos set in 1962. It was the first blank Zinedine Zidane’s men drew since a 0-0 draw at Manchester City almost one-and-a-half years ago. During the teams’ incredible runs, Real registered more victories (54 to 52), Santos registered more goals (245 to 200), and both lifted seven trophies.
28 seconds is all Alex Morgan required to score after coming on at half-time in USA’s 5-0 thrashing of New Zealand on Tuesday. It saw the 28-year-old from San Gabriel Valley outrank Cindy Parlow and go outright seventh on the USWNT’s list of all-time leading markswomen. Morgan then completed her brace and now has four goals in her last 152 minutes of action for her country.
25 years: that is how long Monaco had gone without winning five of their first six Ligue 1 games until Radamel Falcao’s brace sunk Strasbourg and left him with nine goals from six outings this term. The Arsene Wenger side which managed the feat in 1991/92 comprised Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit, Youri Djorkaeff and George Weah.
23 years: that is how long Eintracht Frankfurt had gone without winning away to Cologne until Sebastien Haller hit the only goal by the Rhine on Wednesday. The last time ‘The Eagles’ had triumphed at ‘The Billy Goats’ was in 1994, when Uwe Bein, Jay Jay Okocha, Maurizio Gaudino and Tony Yeboah overcame Bodo Illgner, Toni Polster and team-mates.
16 years after Jermain Defoe’s 19th goal for Bournemouth – when his now-manager Eddie Howe was behind him in defence – the 34-year-old got his 20th. The winner against Brighton was Defoe’s first goal in nine appearances for clubs and country.
16 years and 131 days was the age at which Andres Amaya became one of the youngest marksmen in Colombian top-flight history, eclipsing the likes of James Rodriguez and Jader Valencia. The Atletico Huila forward required just three minutes to score after rising from the bench against Jaguares, and following his strike from outside the box at America de Cali, has netted twice in his last 100 minutes of action.
12 goals in five games is what Jaja has bagged to power Buriram United to the cusp of the Thai T1 title and himself just two behind Dragan Boskovic in the race to finish as its leading marksman. The Brazilian and the Montenegrin have 28 and 30 goals respectively heading into the final six rounds, with the record for goals in a season the 33 netted by Diogo in 2015.
8 goals in the first four rounds of one of Europe’s top five leagues is what Paulo Dybala became the first player since Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney in 2011/12 to score. The 23-year-old’s opener in a hat-trick at Sassuolo was his 50th goal for Juventus in his 100th appearance.
5 goals in just 208 minutes in Ligue 1 is what Marseille’s Clinton N’Jie has scored this season – one every 42 minutes on average and more than the 24-year-old Cameroon attacker managed in the entire 2016/17 campaign.