An exciting weekend of football action saw Real Madrid snap up the LaLiga title, Bayern Leverkusen extend their unbeaten run to a staggering 48 games and Liverpool coasting to a 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Barcelona’s defeat to Girona meant Real Madrid had opened up an unassailable 13-point lead at the top of the table, which assured them the LaLiga title. In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen got the better of Eintracht Frankfurt to remain unbeaten all through this Bundesliga season, while Arsenal maintained their lead in England.
All the big clubs posted wins in the Premier League, the highlight of which was Liverpool’s victory over Spurs. Manchester City continue to trail Arsenal by a sole point but have the advantage since they have a game in hand.
Premier League
5
Ipswich Town have become the fifth side in the PL era (since 1992-93) to achieve consecutive promotions from the third tier to the first, joining Watford (1997-98. 1998-99), Manchester City (1998-99, 1999-00), Norwich City (2009-10, 2010-11) and Southampton (2010-11, 2011-12).
6
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has scored six hat tricks in the first half at the club level. For context, Cristiano Ronaldo has done that seven times in his career (all club) and Lionel Messi has done it five times (club + country).
25 + 10
This is his Mohamed Salah’s fifth season with 25 goals and 10 assists across all competitions since joining Liverpool. He is now tied with Kylian Mbappe for the most such seasons in that span.
82
Bukayo Saka’s 82nd career goal contribution (47th goal) in the Premier League sees him go on level terms with Romelu Lukaku for the fifth-most goal contributions in the PL by a player before their 23rd birthday. If he scores another three goals before September 5, Saka would become the first player with at least 50 goals and 30 assists in the PL before turning 23.
100
Sheffield United join Swindon Town as the only PL clubs to concede 100 goals in a single season. In the 1993-94 PL season there were 22 teams with each team playing 42 matches. Swindon Town conceded 2.38 goals per game in the 93-94 campaign. Sheffield United are allowing 2.78 goals per game through their 36 games played this season. The Blades play Everton and Tottenham in their final two games of the season.
117
Salah scored his 117th career goal at Anfield against Spurs, tying with Robbie Fowler for the fifth-most goals scored in Anfield’s history. Salah’s 12 career goals against Tottenham are his second-most against any opponent in all competitions (14 vs Manchester United).
36 and 25
Real Madrid won their 36th LaLiga title this weekend, which is the most in the history of the Spanish top-flight. The win also saw Nacho and Lukas Modric equal Marcelo and Karim Benzema as the players with the most trophies in the club’s history (25).
7+
Girona is the 4th team in the last 60 years to defeat Barcelona twice by multiple goals in the same season (2002-03 Deportivo La Coruña, 1995-96 Atlético Madrid, 1978-79 Real Sociedad). Girona joins 2023-24 Villarreal (8 goals) and 2000-01 Zaragoza (7 goals) as just the 3rd team in the last 25 seasons to score 7+ goals against Barcelona in a single season.
18
Jude Bellingham has tied Hector Rial for the fifth-most goals (18) for Real Madrid by a player in their first career LaLiga season. The only player with more goals for Real Madrid in a single season before turning 21 years old was Raul, who scored 19 goals in 1995-96 and 21 goals in 1996-97.
20
Artem Dovbyk is the first Ukrainian player to score 20 goals in a season in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues since Andriy Shevchenko scored 24 Serie A goals for AC Milan in 2003-04.
24
Robert Lewandowski leads Barca’s scoring charts with 24 goals in all competitions this season. The Polish striker has not finished a season with fewer than 25 goals in all competitions since 2010-11 when he scored 9 goals in 33 appearances for Borussia Dortmund in his first season played outside of Poland.
108
Iago Aspas has scored 108 LaLiga goals since turning 30 years old, tying Luis Suarez for the fourth-most LaLiga goals after turning 30 years all-time.
Bundesliga
3/45
Granit Xhaka has scored 3 goals in 45 games played for Bayer Leverkusen across all competitions this season — and all three have been from outside the penalty area in Bundesliga play. The only players in the Bundesliga with more goals from outside the penalty area this season are Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy (4) and Heidenheim’s Jan-Niklas Beste (4). In fact, Leverkusen’s 11 Bundesliga goals from outside the penalty area this season are the most by any team.
Alexander Scheuber/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images
36
Harry Kane’s 36th Bundesliga goal of the season is the most by an Englishman in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues since Jimmy Greaves scored 37 for Tottenham in 1962-63. Kane now has 44 goals this season in all competitions, breaking a tie with Mbappe for most among players in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
292
Leverkusen’s Lukas Hradecky made his 292nd Bundesliga appearance this weekend, which saw him overtake Yann Sommer (291) as the foreign goalkeeper with the most appearances in the German top flight.
Messi-Ronaldo watch
6
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his sixth career hat trick for Al Nassr and the 66th of his career with a club and country (he had 10 for Portugal, 54 for Real Madrid and 3 for each Juventus and Manchester United). This is his fourth hat trick of the 2022-23 club season and he hadn’t had more than two club hat tricks in a season since 2016-17, when he tallied 5 hat tricks for Real Madrid.
6
Lionel Messi had multiple goal contributions in six straight games, which is the longest streak in MLS history. The Argentine’s five assists and six goal contributions are both MLS records for a single game.
7
Messi brought up his seventh straight game with at least one goal, which is his longest streak since an eight-game goal streak in 2021 (with FC Barcelona).
45
Ronaldo has scored 45 goals at the club level this season, his most since scoring 51 for Real Madrid in 2015-16. He went on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2016.
