Fact check: Best stats from this weekend's (19-20 Feb) footballing action
Another weekend of European footballing action comes to a close, bringing us another fresh set of stats to savor. With the business end of the season approaching, fans' excitement levels will soar as the season progresses.
In England, the game of the weekend was between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. It lived up to its billing, serving us with a thriller for the ages. The title race has been reignited with City losing to Spurs and Liverpool winning against Norwich City (some exciting stats await you there).
Meanwhile, Arsenal continued their march towards a top-four finish, Chelsea huffed and puffed their way to a win against Crystal Palace, and Manchester United beat Leeds United at Elland Road.
In Spain, Real Madrid returned to winning ways against Alaves, and Sevilla dropped points, leaving the door ajar for Madrid to run away with the title. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid finally registered an away win in La Liga. Barcelona put Valencia to the sword, with new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a hat-trick.
In Germany, Bayern Munich rolled past Furth after trailing at half-time, whereas Dortmund put Monchengladbach to the sword, hitting six past their opponents. RB Leipzig continued their rise, slotting six past Hertha Berlin to keep a hold on fourth place.
Both Milan clubs dropped points in Italy, leaving the door open for Napoli to clinch the top spot and making the title race even more interesting. Juventus too dropped points, but it didn't matter as Atalanta lost to Florentina, allowing the Old Lady to stay fourth in the league (stats show the ugly side of that).
In Ligue, PSG lost to Nantes after a dismal first half where they conceded three goals. Still, a gap of 13 points to their nearest rivals should be enough for the Parisians to seal the Ligue 1 title.
So, without further ado, here are the best stats from this weekend's European footballing action:
Best stats from this weekend's European footballing action
Premier League
- First of all, stats from the game of the weekend -- Spurs became only the fourth side ever to do a league double over Pep Guardiola. Previously, it was achieved by Chelsea (2016-17), Manchester Unitec (2019-20) and Wolves (2019-20).
- Pep Guardiola has now lost six games against Tottenham. Only against Chelsea has Pep lost more than Spurs (eight).
- Terrific stats coming from Merseyside -- Liverpool have become the first club from the Premier League to score 100 goals this season. They scored 97 goals in 53 games last season.
- Chelsea have kept 37 clean sheets in 70 games under Thomas Tuchel. Since his arrival, no side has accumulated more clean sheets than Chelsea.
- Harry Maguire's goal against Leeds was Manchester United's first from corner kicks this season. Before that, they took 138 attempts without scoring!
LaLiga
- Real Madrid have won 15 of their last 17 games against Alaves in LaLiga, scoring 51 times in those games.
- Pierre Emerick Aubameyang became the first player in the 21st century to net a hat-trick in four of Europe's top five leagues -- Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga & Ligue 1.
- Barcelona have scored 333 goals in 173 LaLiga games against Valencia, more than any other side in the league.
- With a draw against Sevilla, Espanyol have gone six straight games without a win (3D 3L), their worst winless run in this season.
- After a run of five winless away games, Atletico Madrid has finally won an away game in the league while keeping a clean sheet. In their previous five away games, they conceded 12 goals.
Bundesliga
- Stats galore for Robert Lewandowski -- he has moved on to 28 league goals this season, almost sealing the European Golden boot. His closest challenger this season is Patrick Schick, with 20 goals.
- Also, the Polish striker has scored at least two goals for the eighth time this season!
- Borussia Dortmund have scored 63 goals in 23 games this season, their second-best goal-scoring record at this competition stage (65 in 2019-20).
- Dortmund have scored at least two goals in their 12 home games in Bundesliga this season.
- RB Leipzig put six past a dismal Hertha away from home. This was their biggest away win in the Bundesliga ever!
Serie A
- Inter have lost two home Serie A games for the first time since 2018. And just like the time, the second defeat came against Sassuolo.
- Salernitana avoiding defeat against AC Milan was the first time since May 2016 that a bottom-placed team avoided defeat against the league leaders. In the meantime, the top-ranked sides have won nine consecutive games.
- Juventus have drawn four Serie A games this year. No other side has drawn more games than the Bianconeri.
- Fabio Quagliarella has become the eighth player in Serie A history to score in 18 consecutive calendar years. Previously, it was achieved by Altafini, Gianni Rivera, Roberto Mancini, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti and Sergio Pellissier.
- Atalanta have failed to win their last five Serie A games for the first time since October 2018.
Ligue 1
- Win their latest win over PSG, Nantes have won two of their past three games against the Parisians. Previously, it took them 26 games to register two wins (D3 L21).
- Since 2010, this was the first time PSG finished the first half three goals down.
- Lionel Messi played his 800th club game this season. So far, his stats read: 679 goals, 274 assists.
Stats: WhoScored & ESPN