The Week in Numbers - WORLD FOOTBALL
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| AFP |
- A Dutch homeboy having fun in 'The Tub'
- Der Bomber and El Pelusa get dethroned
- A mini-man towers above his rivals
526 goals for one club from Europe’s top five leagues is what Lionel Messi, in his 608th appearance for Barcelona, made it to break Gerd Muller’s long-lasting record (525 goals in 572 games in all competitions for Bayern Munich). In the 3-0 victory that gave Barcelona three straight La Liga away wins over Real Madrid for the first time in their history, the 30-year-old Argentinian also moved on to 25 goals and 13 assists in El Clasico – both records.
168 centimetres is the height that made N’Golo Kante the shortest French Footballer of the Year in 30 years. The Chelsea midfielder is marginally smaller than former winners Didier Deschamps (169cm) and Franck Ribery (170cm), but taller than Alain Giresse (163cm), who won his third title in 1987.
150 A-League wins is what Melbourne Victory became the first club to achieve – and they did it dramatically against arch-rivals Melbourne City. The first goalless Melbourne Derby in over four years appeared on the cards, but, with 95 minutes and three seconds on the clock, Mark Milligan scored the fixture’s latest-ever goal, from the spot, to see Victory beat Brisbane Roar (147 wins) to the century-and-a-half mark.
116 goals for Napoli is what Marek Hamsik made it to outrank Diego Maradona and become its all-time leading marksman. After going 13 games in all competitions without a goal, the 30-year-old Slovakian scored in back-to-back appearances to set a new record, though his goals-to-games ratio (0.24) is worse than the rest of the ten top: Dries Mertens (0.40), Attila Sallustro (0.41), Jose Altafini (0.41), Careca (0.43), Maradona (0.44), Giuseppe Savoldi (0.47), Antonio Vojak (0.53), Gonzalo Higuain (0.61) and Edinson Cavani (0.75).
85 positions is what Palestine have sprung up the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in only three-and-a-half years to reach a personal best of 80th. Palestine were 165th in May 2014, behind the likes of Aruba, Bangladesh and Pakistan – now 179th, 197th and 201st respectively.
19 consecutive Jens Toornstra goals in the Eredivisie have come at home – a joint-record in the competition’s 61-year history. The Feyenoord midfielder last found the target on his travels at Ajax almost two years ago. Nineteen straight goals from Haarlem striker Joop Bockling came at Haarlem Stadion between 1978 and 1981.
6 assists is what Cesar Azpilicueta has provided for Alvaro Morata in the 2017/18 Premier League – a joint-record for one Chelsea player to another in a season, tied with Frank Lampard to Didier Drogba in 2009/10 and Cesc Fabregas to Diego Costa in 2014/15. Twenty goals from Spanish players is what Chelsea have benefitted from this campaign – the joint-most from any club in Europe alongside Real Sociedad.
6 goals in four games is what Abdoulay Diaby scored to help Club Brugge go ten matches unbeaten. The Blue-Blacks have already scored 53 goals in this season’s Belgian top flight – just three less than they did over the entire 2016/17 season.
3 successive Haitian titles have gone to Le Cap – after the trophy eluded the city for 23 successive campaigns. AS Capoise conquered the competition for the first time in 20 years to emulate local rivals FICA and Real Hope.