Quick-fire spot-kicks, an instant volley and an unhappy hunting ground feature in FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with an historic achievement for a son of San Sebastian.
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seconds of action is all that had transpired between Melbourne Victory winning two penalties against Wellington Phoenix on Monday – both of which were converted by Besart Berisha. Daniel Georgievski was felled for the first in the 19th minute and, after the Victory won possession back virtually straight from the restart, the Sydney-born FYR Macedonia wingback magically split the defence for Berisha, who was fouled. Berisha finished the game with a hat-trick, leaving him with six goals in his last four A-League appearances against the Phoenix. Melbourne finished it with a 6-1 win – the second-biggest in their history, surpassed only by their 6-0 thrashing of Adelaide United in the 2007 Grand Final. The Phoenix have now won just one of their last 15 clashes with the Victory in the A-League.
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goals in a game is what Aritz Aduriz became the first player in UEFA Europa League history to post on Thursday. Additionally impressive was the fact the 35-year-old scored all of Athletic Bilbao’s goals in a 5-3 defeat of Genk with just five shots on target. The Basque outfit’s last five victories in the competition had been by a one-goal margin, but Aduriz struck in injury time to end that run and give himself a hat-trick of penalties. It also meant it was the fourth time in the last year that Bilbao netted five or more goals in a match, having previously gone almost two years without scoring over four.
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successive matches is what Tottenham Hotspur have lost at Wembley. The iconic London venue is staging Spurs’ home games in this season’s UEFA Champions League while White Hart Lane gets refurbished, and both have been losses – 2-1 to Monaco and 1-0 to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday. England’s first 20th-century double winners lost their previous three appearances at Wembley: 2-0 to a Kevin-Prince Boateng inspired Portsmouth in the FA Cup semis in 2010; 5-1 to Chelsea at the same stage of the same competition two years later; and 2-0 to Chelsea in the 2015 League Cup final. Moreover, Tottenham’s previous result there, although officially a draw, ended in a penalty-shoot-out loss to Manchester United in the League Cup decider.
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seconds before Tottenham kicked off in the English capital on Wednesday, one of their former stars had broken the deadlock in a ‘simultaneous’ start in the Polish equivalent. Gareth Bale’s sensational volley after just 57 seconds was Real Madrid’s fastest-ever Champions League goal. A Bale assist helped establish a 2-0 lead, but Legia Warsaw rallied to become the first team to score three goals in a game against Real since Zinedine Zidane assumed their reins. Mateo Kovacic netted a late equaliser to extend Real’s undefeated run in all competitions to 27 games. Quick hits 100 Champions League appearances is what Juventus keeper Gigi Buffon became the third Italian to reach against Lyon, emulating Paolo Maldini and Andrea Pirlo.
26years had passed with IFK Gothenburg reigning as Sweden’s record champions until Malmo stripped them of the honour on Sunday. The Sky Blues clinched their third Allsvenskan in four seasons to seize the outright lead with 19.
6 league matches in successive without scoring is what has befallen Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the first time in nine years.
6 years and eight months after he last scored in the Champions League, Falcao repeated the feat for Monaco against CSKA Moscow.
0 clubs had kept four clean sheets in their first four UEFA Champions League games until Leicester City followed up shutouts against Club Brugge, Porto and Copenhagen with another away to the latter.