A Moonwalk master joining an exclusive club, a saddening swansong, a ‘perfect’ treble and a goal flood highlight FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with a spot-kick specialist and a laudable landmark.
500
appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk is what Darijo Srna, who joined the club in 2003, became the first player to reach away to Istanbul Basaksehir. Croatia’s most-capped player also helped Shakhtar thrash Dnipro 4-0 on Sunday to make it maximum points five games into the Ukrainian Premier League. Incredibly, Shakhtar’s goals in all competitions this season – little over one month into it – have come from 14 different players.
40
goals were registered in the opening round of La Liga – the highest total since 46 decorated the first weekend of 1955/56 and a record since it became a 20-team division. Sevilla’s pulsating 6-4 defeat of Espanyol served up a quarter of them, while Barcelona contributed heavily with a 6-2 thrashing of Real Betis in which Luis Suarez made it 17 goals in his last six league appearances. Leganes only got one versus Celta Viga, but it made them just the fifth team in history – after Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Alcoyano and Almeria – to win away on their debut in La Liga. Two goals also came deep into stoppage time at the Vicente Calderon, but although Atletico Madrid beat Alaves 27-2 on shots, the contest finished 1-1.
28
years after an AC Milan player bagged a hat-trick in their first league game of the season – Pietro Paolo Virdis against Fiorentina – Carlos Bacca repeated the feat in ‘perfect’ fashion against Torino. The 29-year-old Colombian also became the first man to score a Serie A treble on Matchday 1 since Juventus’s David Trezeguet in 2007, and made it six goals in his last four appearances in the competition. Torino have not won away to Milan since 1985, after which they have lost 15 and drawn six. Meanwhile their coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has lost all six of his debuts at the reins of a new club and never masterminded a defeat of Milan in eight attempts.
6
players have now scored in the English, German, Italian and Spanish top flights after Kevin-Prince Boateng bagged on his Las Palmas bow. The former Ghana international emulated Florin Raducioiu, Gica Popescu, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Pierre Wome and Obafemi Martins. Boateng’s goal helped Las Palmas net four goals in a game for the fourth time in eight months, and saw Valencia concede more than three in their first home game of a league campaign for the first time ever.
4
goals is what Jasper Cillessen conceded for the first time in five years as an Ajax goalkeeper – in what proved to be his final appearance before a move to Barcelona. Rostov scored them in a 32-minute spell which earned them a stunning upset and a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time. Ajax’s 5-1 aggregate loss, despite them having 72 per cent possession over 180 minutes, was indebted to the fact that, penalties aside, they scored from none of their 30 shots over the two legs while Rostov buried 63 per cent of their attempts on target. Davy Klaassen’s late spot-kick did at least ensure Ajax have netted in 21 successive games in all competitions for the first time since Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart and Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped them do it in 2003.
Quick hits 55 years since they last went 13 games in all competitions without keeping a clean sheet, Chelsea unwantedly reached the same figure by conceding twice in a narrow victory at home to Bristol Rovers in the League Cup.
11 straight penalties have been successfully converted by Fabinho since the start of the 2015/16 season – including three in Monaco’s last four games. The 22-year-old Brazilian has not scored in open play during this period.
8 minutes and three touches is all Gonzalo Higuain required to start paying back the huge fee Juventus paid for him with a goal.
3matches without victory may not seem like a drought, but it’s what Guangzhou Evergrande find themselves on for the first time since they gained promotion into the championship six years ago.