What a weekend it has been! There was a lot of excellent football, from which we bring you the best numbers.
FA Cup
Arsenal stunned Manchester City 2-0 and Chelsea fired Manchester United 3-1 to host a London-wide final for the 2019/20 FA Cup.
3
Arsenal and Chelsea will meet in a FA Cup final for the third time. Arsenal have won the previous two games (2002 and 2017).
6 6
Chelsea have eliminated Manchester United from the FA Cup for the sixth time (including three of the last four seasons), only Arsenal (7) have eliminated United from the competition on more occasions.
twenty-one
This will be the 21st FA Cup final at Arsenal, the most for any team in history. Of course, they have also won the competition more times than anyone else (13). This will be Chelsea’s fourteenth final appearance, the third most behind Arsenal and Manchester United (20).
66
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 66 goals in all competitions for Arsenal since his debut for the club in February 2018, the only PL player with the most in this period is Mohamed Salah (68).
Premier league
Only 4 games this weekend, but a lot of drama in the Premier League.
3
Just when you thought this season couldn’t be weirder, head up to Watford Pass and Nigel Pearson will come out. With Pearson’s departure, Watford is now the first team in PL history to see three permanent managers leave for a single season (Pearson, Quique Sánchez Flores, Javi Gracia) Just to underline the strangeness of it all, Pearson has the best Win rate (35%) and the points-per-game ratio (1.25) of any Watford manager in PL history.
5 5
A bad season, which ends on a worse note. Norwich City is now the third team in the history of the English top flight to lose five consecutive home games without scoring a single goal, after Sheffield Wednesday (April 1920) and Birmingham City (February 1922).
29.5
If you didn’t see the game and saw the score, you’ll find a touch hard to believe. In their 3-0 victory over Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur had only 29.5% possession. This is their lowest participation in a PL game since September 2012 against Manchester United (26%) and their lowest score in a home game in competition since Opt have such data (2003-04).
And this, for the next season, when the PL will see the return of a great team.
55
Marcelo Bielsa has won 54 of his 98 matches for Leeds United. His 55% win rate is the highest any manager the club has had in its history.
the league
The 2019/20 League season is over, with Real Madrid tying Leganes 1-1, Barcelona defeating Alaves 5-0, and Atlético de Madrid faced a 1-1 draw at Granada on the final day. Here, then, is what the key places look like: Champions: Real Madrid. UCL locations: RM, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Seville. Relegated: Leganés, Mallorca, Espanyol.
one
Thibaut Courtois has won the award for best goalkeeper 2019/20 in La Liga. He became the first goalkeeper in history to win the Zamora trophy with Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid.
eleven
Sergio Ramos has scored 11 goals this season in the league, the most by a defender in a single season in the 21st century.
33
Santi Cazorla has been involved in more goals than any other midfielder in La Liga since the start of last season (33-15 goals and 18 assists). What a player. What an inspiration.
82
Barcelona has accumulated 82 points in LaLiga 2019/20, its lowest score in a single season in the competition since 2007/08 (67 points).
A series
Roma and Inter Milan played an entertaining draw 2-2, meaning that Juventus have a gap of five points over second place Inter, with a game in hand. Can Lazio spice up the Serie A title race later tonight?
eleven
In calendar year 2020, only Erling Haaland (13 goals) and Robert Lewandowski (12) have scored more goals (excluding penalties) than Ante Rebic (11) among the top 5 European leagues.
13
Romelu Lukaku is the first player to score 13 goals on the road in his first season in Serie A history.
17
Atalanta is one of three teams in the top 5 leagues in Europe, which has two players with 17 or more league goals this season (Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata, both 17), along with Liverpool (Sadio Mane, 17 and Mohamed Salah, 19) and Manchester United (Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, both 17).
500
More goodness Rome-Inter. This is the first meeting between two teams, in the history of Serie A, which has recorded 500 goals.
Ronaldo-Messi Clock
Lionel Messi scored a brace and helped another end his domestic season on top. Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus, meanwhile, will play Lazio later tonight.
7 7
Messi lifts a seventh record Pichichi Trophy or League Golden Boot, breaking a tie at the top of the all-time list with the legendary Telmo Zarra (6). This is Messi’s fourth ladder Pichichi – He scored 25 goals this season, 4 ahead of second placed Karim Benzema.
twenty-one
With 21 assists, Messi has surpassed Xavi as the player with the most assists in a single La Liga season. He also ties in with Thomas Müller (2019-20, Bayern Munich) for the most single-season assists of any player in the top 5 European leagues in the past 10 years.
(Statistics courtesy: ESPN Statistics and Information Group)
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