European football had its fair share of derbies this weekend, with Barcelona defeating Real Madrid in a dramatic clásico, moving them 12 points clear of their rivals at the top of La Liga, with Atlético Madrid chasing pack and Real Sociedad obtaining victories. Lazio defeated Roma to move up to second in the table, 19 points behind leaders Napoli, who easily edged past Torino. Juventus defeated Inter Milan while Udinese stunned AC Milan to add spice to the top four run.
Premier League leaders Arsenal extended their lead to eight points with a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, with Manchester City and Manchester United advancing to the FA Cup semi-finals. Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea both dropped points, but Newcastle regained the gap to the top four with a late win over Nottingham Forest. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund defeated FC Koln to overcome Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, and the Bavarians lost to Bayer Leverkusen. Ligue 1 leaders PSG saw their lead cut to seven points after losing to Stade Rennais, with Marseille ending Will Still-led Reim’s unbeaten run.
ESPN by the numbers has the best stats of the weekend:
FIRST LEAGUE
29, 10/10
Bukayo Saka’s 29 career Premier League goals are tied with Raheem Sterling for the 10th most Prem goals by a player before his 22nd birthday. However, it pales in comparison to the 82 goals Robbie Fowler scored before his 22nd birthday. Saka can take solace in the fact that he became the first Arsenal player to rack up 10 goals and 10 assists in a Premier League season since Alexis Sánchez in 2016-17, and also the youngest PL player to do so. in the last 15 seasons. He is also the only Prem player with 10 goals and 10 assists this season.
24
Gabriel Martinelli scored his 24th career Premier League goal, breaking a tie with Nicolas Anelka for the second-most by an Arsenal player before his 22nd birthday. Bukayo Saka is the first on that list with 29 goals.
FA CUP
ERLING HAALAND IS PUTTING UP VIDEO GAME NUMBERS 😳 pic.twitter.com/plNCU191nL
-ESPNFC (@ESPNFC) March 18, 2023
6
Haaland also has 6 hat tricks this season in all competitions. That surpasses Harry Kane in 2016-17 for the most hat tricks in a season by a Premier League player in all competitions in the last 15 years. Not surprisingly, the Norwegian has already reached the 40-goal mark.
1
Erling Haaland is the first Premier League player since at least 2005-06 to score 8 goals in a span of 2 games in all competitions (5 against Leipzig and 3 against Burnley). It’s also a good time to remember that he once scored 9 goals for Norway in the 2019 U-20 World Cup against Honduras.
1
Sheffield United became the first team from outside the top flight to reach the FA Cup semi-final since Reading in 2014–15.
2
Brighton progressed to their second FA Cup semi-final in the last 5 seasons; prior to 2018-19, Brighton had not reached an FA Cup semi-final since 1982-83, when they were finally runners-up in the final.
10+10×3
Bruno Fernandes joined Lionel Messi as the only players in Europe’s top 5 leagues with at least 10 goals and 10 assists in each of the last 3 seasons (all competitions).
THE LEAGUE
100, 1603
Barcelona became the first team to defeat Real Madrid 100 times with their 2-1 victory in El Clásico. This was his first victory at the Camp Nou since October 28, 2018; 1,603 days ago, which was the club’s second-longest span of days between home wins against Real Madrid.
At 91:02, Franck Kessié’s goal is the last for Barcelona to win ElClásico since Lionel Messi at 91:48 in April 2017. That was Messi’s 500th goal of his Barcelona career. pic.twitter.com/trpOzcaetE
– ESPN Stats and Information (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 19, 2023
3
Barcelona extended their El Clásico winning streak to 3 games in all competitions, tied for the club’s second-longest all-time streak; The last time Barça won 3 editions of El Clásico was in 2011-12.
5
Alejandro Balde’s 5 assists are the most by a teenage defender in a LaLiga season since José Gaya had 7 in 2014-15, and the joint most by a defender this season. The only teenager in the top 5 leagues in Europe with more assists than Balde’s 5 this season is Jamal Musiala (7 for Bayern).
1
Ronald Araujo’s own goal was the first in a league edition of El Clásico since 1991 (Barcelona’s Pedrag Spasic). In total, it is the 6th GO scored in a LaLiga match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
A SERIES
20+
Victor Osimhen became the third player to score more than 20 goals in Europe’s top five leagues this season along with Erling Haaland (28) and Harry Kane (21). The Napoli striker’s 21 league goals this season are tied with Samuel Eto’o (Inter) in 2010-11 for the most goals in a season by an African-born player in Serie A history.
Only Marcus Rashford has more goals in all competitions in 2023 than Victor Osimhen ��
To another level �� pic.twitter.com/lbBj2SDn4c
-ESPNFC (@ESPNFC) March 19, 2023
6
Napoli’s six consecutive multi-goal, clean-sheet victories away from home are tied with Chelsea from 2008-09 for the longest run of its kind in Europe’s top 5 leagues in the 21st century. It is also the longest run of its kind in Serie A history (2 more than any other team; Inter had 4 in a row in 1966).
41 years, 166 days
Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the oldest goalscorer in any of the top 5 leagues in Europe. At 41 years and 166 days, the Swede claimed that distinction in Serie A after Alessandro Costacurta (41 years, 025 days) had held it since 2007. This was also the 25th consecutive calendar year that Ibrahimovic had scored in (1999-2023). .
BUNDESLIGA
29
Bayern Munich ended their run of 29 consecutive Bundesliga games (22-7-0) without losing after taking the lead, their first such defeat since February 12, 2022 against VFL Bochum (4- 2)
150
Marco Reus became the 16th player in Bundesliga history to reach 150 career goals.
Dortmund finish a Bundesliga matchday in first place for the first time since the 2019-20 season ��
They are back. pic.twitter.com/LiuGfvAX8w
-ESPNFC (@ESPNFC) March 19, 2023
LEAGUE 1
59
Marseille’s tally of 59 points in 28 games in Ligue 1 so far is their highest in the 21st century. They have won their last eight away games, second only to their run of nine away wins between February and August 2009 in Ligue 1 history.
35
PSG suffered their first home defeat in 35 Ligue 1 games, of which they had won 30.
MESSI RONALDO WATCH
Lionel Messi did not have the best of nights when PSG lost to Rennes, which was also notable for this reason:
PSG loses 2-0 to Rennes ��
It is their first defeat in Ligue 1 at home since Messi arrived at the club �� pic.twitter.com/BeILOoQpm9
-ESPNFC (@ESPNFC) March 19, 2023
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo did this:
Ronaldo still has it �� pic.twitter.com/JA1mbT6IKh
-ESPNFC (@ESPNFC) March 19, 2023
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)
