Wednesday 10 August 2016, 06:44

Money, muscle and monopoly

Mancunian muscle, Parisian power & rampant Rotterdammers feature in FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with a master of the big occasion and oldies excelling in Japan and the USA.

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straight trophy matches is what Paris Saint-Germain have now conquered. Since losing the Coupe de France final to a Lille side comprising Adil Rami, Yohan Cabaye, Eden Hazard and Gervinho in 2011, PSG have won that competition twice and the Coupe de la Ligue thrice. Meanwhile, Sunday’s 4-1 win over Lyon in Austria gave the capital colossuses a fourth successive Trophee des Champions. Angel Di Maria’s tenth assist in nine appearances enabled Hatem Ben Arfa to score with his first shot for PSG.

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successive world transfer records had been broken by Real Madrid until Manchester United spent €105m to land Paul Pogba from Juventus. Los Merengues had previously made Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale the sport’s most expensive player. British clubs had been responsible for 15 of the first 16 biggest signings – Bernabe Ferreyra’s move from Tigre to River Plate was the exception. They had, however, broken the record only once in 65 years – Newcastle United’s 1996 capture of Alan Shearer – until Pogba, 23, became the youngest holder of the title since a 20-year-old Denilson joined Real Betis in 1998.

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goals: that is the margin by which Groningen lost at home for just the third time in Eredivisie history on Sunday. Eric Gerets, Ruud Gullit, Willy van de Kerkhof and four-goal Rob McDonald inspired PSV to a 6-1 success at the Oosterpark in 1985, while Regi Blinker and Gaston Taument were the stars as Feyenoord won 5-0 there on the last day of 1992/93. The same team repeated the same scoreline in the same city on Sunday – this time on the first day of the campaign. Feyenoord’s victory was headlined by Eljero Elia, whose maiden career treble, in his 13th season, made him the first player to score an opening-round hat-trick in the Eredivisie since Ajax’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in 2007. Groningen are now winless in nine meetings with Feyenoord, who are unbeaten in 12 Eredivisie matches – a run that began when they snapped a seven-game losing streak.

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successive Community Shields have finished with the FA Cup winners overcoming the Premier League champions for the first time in its long history. After Arsenal upset Manchester City and Chelsea in 2014 and ’15 respectively, Manchester United edged Leicester City 2-1 on Sunday. The Foxes were making their first appearance at Wembley since they won the League Cup in 2000, since which the Red Devils had played there 16 times. Jesse Lingard broke the deadlock, becoming the first player since Eric Cantona in 1996 to score in the FA Cup final and its subsequent Community Shield, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic sealed victory on his competitive debut for the club. The trophy has now remained in Manchester or London for ten successive seasons.

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consecutive finals is what Sergio Ramos has incredibly scored in for Real Madrid. The centre-back, who broke the deadlock in Los Merengues’ 2-0 win over San Lorenzo in the climax to the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2014, again got the opener in the UEFA Champions League decider in May, and on Tuesday netted an 11th-hour goal to send the UEFA Super Cup to extra time. There, Dani Carvajal’s effort meant that the last three editions of the fixture have been lost by Sevilla. Furthermore, Real have beaten Sevilla in their last ten meetings outside of Andalusia.

Quick hits 49years and 163 days is what Kazu Miura extended his own record to as Japanese professional football’s oldest scorer on Sunday. His fizzing volley helped Yokohama FC, who trailed 2-0 at Cerezo Osaka after 75 minutes, win 3-2.

35 years after they last won in the opening round of the Eredivisie, Excelsior repeated the feat with a shock 2-1 win at Twente.

17 matches unbeaten at home – one shy of the sixth-longest streak in MLS history – is what Orlando City were on until Seattle Sounders’ Clint Dempsey obliterated it with a hat-trick.

16 minutes is all it took Christian Gytkjaer to bag a hat-trick that earned Rosenborg a 4-3 win at Lillestrom. Since losing in the opening round, the Norwegian Tippeligaen leaders have gone 17 games unbeaten.