A Uruguayan in France, a Frenchman in the USA and a Bosnian in Italy feature in FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with role reversals in Africa and Saintly shutouts in England.
109
goals is what makes Edinson Cavani the joint-second-highest marksman in Paris Saint-Germain’s history. The 29-year-old Uruguayan’s double earned a 2-0 win at Nantes on Saturday. It left him having netted 20 goals in 19 Ligue 1 games this season – staggeringly, six more than mid-table Nantes. Cavani then bagged another brace in Tuesday’s 4-1 win away to Bordeaux in the Coupe de la Ligue to tie Pauleta on PSG’s list of record scorers, trailing only his former strike partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic (156). Dominique Rocheteau is the only other player to have registered a century of goals for PSG.
86
years after Roma won 13 consecutive home games in Serie A, they equalled that club record. Fulvio Bernardini, Arturo Chini and Rodolfo Volk helped I Giallorossi set that personal best until a 1-1 draw against Lazio in December 1930. Key to their current run has been Edin Dzeko, who scored the only goal against Cagliari on Sunday to make it ten goals in as many league games at the Stadio Olimpico. It left the 30-year-old striker having netted 14 home goals in all competitions this season, which was a joint-record for a player from one of Europe’s big five leagues until Lionel Messi got his 15th against Real Sociedad on Thursday.
13
years had passed since Morocco reached the knockout phase of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations – and Côte d'Ivoire failed to – until the former edged the latter on Tuesday. Since Youssouf Hadji, Youssef Mokhtari and Marouane Chamakh inspired the Atlas Lions into the 2004 final, they hadn’t made it past the first phase, during which time Les Elephants had succeeded in six successive attempts. Rachid Alioui’s unanswered goal gave Morocco a victory over Côte d'Ivoire that grabbed them runners-up spot in Group C at their opponents’ expense. The result ended the Ivorians’ 14-game undefeated run, and was their first loss at the AFCON in 19 matches.
6
MLS clubs is what Sebastien Le Toux has become only the second player in history to represent. The 33-year-old spent just two seasons in his native France before moving to North America, where he has played for Seattle Sounders, Philadelphia Union (twice), Vancouver Whitecaps, New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids, and signed for DC United this week. Montreal Impact became Ghanaian forward Dominic Oduro‘s seventh MLS club in 2015.
0
teams had reached the EFL Cup final without conceding a goal until Southampton improbably became the first. Claude Puel’s side did so having faced Premier League teams in every round, beating Crystal Palace and Sunderland at home, winning 2-0 at Arsenal and finally winning both legs of their semi-final with free-scoring Liverpool 1-0. It left the Reds having failed to net in either leg of a last-four game since losing to Leeds United in the 1970/71 Fairs Cup, and the Saints having gone seven and a half hours without conceding a goal in the EFL Cup. The last major trophy Southampton won was the FA Cup in 1976, when they beat the team they will now meet at Wembley on 26 February: Manchester United.
Quick hits 76 years after they last eliminated Real Madrid from the Copa del Rey, Celta Vigo repeated the feat.
42 points is what Sevilla sit on – a club record at the halfway point of La Liga.
5 goals for Galatasaray is what Lukas Podolski did to became the first player to score that many in a game since Jardel in 2000.