79

years: that is how long Marseille’s record of scoring in 30 successive Ligue 1 matches – one indebted to Manu Aznar, Vilmos Kohut and Mario Zatelli – had stood until Monaco surpassed it on Wednesday. Leonardo Jardim’s side beat Saint-Etienne 2-0 to make it 33 points from a possible 33 and clinch their first league crown in 17 years with one game to spare. It ended Paris Saint-Germain’s pursuit of a fifth straight Ligue 1 title, and took Monaco joint-third on its list of record champions, level with Nantes (8) and behind Saint-Etienne and Marseille (10 apiece). Monaco averaged scoring of just 1.3 goals per game in Jardim’s first campaign in charge (2014/15), but have managed 2.8 this term. Their total of 104 goals is the third-highest in French top-flight history, outranking the returns of Lille in 1948/49 and Paris Saint-Germain in 2015/16 (both 102). Thadee Cisowski helped RC Paris hit a record 118 goals in 1959/60, though it only proved enough for them to finish third as Roger Piantoni, Just Fontaine and their Reims team-mates managed 109 and the trophy.

46

away goals in Serie A is what Napoli have scored this season, tieing the all-time record a Juventus side comprising of Karl Aage Praest, Rinaldo Martino, Giampiero Boniperti and John Hansen set in 1949/50. Napoli brought up the figure by thumping Torino 5-0 and ensuring Joe Hart has conceded ten goals in two games against them this term. Il Toro have now netted in 14 successive outings on the road – their longest streak since Giuseppe Massa, Giuseppe Savoldi and Co proved proficient travellers between 1975 and ’76. Key to their success has been Dries Mertens, who, after averaging 0.17 goals per game in his previous two Serie A campaigns, has managed 0.76 this one (25 goals in 33 appearances). Napoli’s division-high 86 goals is the most scored by a club in an Italian top-flight campaign since Omar Sivori and John Charles helped Juventus bag 92 in 1959/60.

36

years and 296 days was the age at which Dirk Kuyt became the fourth-oldest hat-trick scorer in Eredivisie history. Only Abe Lenstra, Faas Wilkes and Pleun Strik were older. Kuyt took only 38 seconds to bag Feyenoord’s quickest goal since Graziano Pelle in 2012, making him just the third player to score 100 Eredivisie goals for the club after Cor van der Gijp in 1961 and Ove Kindvall in 1970. The blond attacker went on to complete his ninth Eredivisie hat-trick – a record this century – and inspire a 3-1 victory over Heracles on the final day. It saw Feyenoord finish one point above Ajax and win their first league title since Jerzy Dudek, Paul Bosvelt, Bonaventure Kalou, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Julio Cruz propelled them to it 18 years ago. That 1998/99 triumph had tied PSV’s total of 14 Eredivisie crowns, but the Eindhoven powerhouses had since added nine to their tally without reply until Sunday. Ajax’s 3-1 victory over Willem II ultimately proved in vain, but Kasper Dolberg’s goal in it made him just the sixth teenager to net over 15 goals in a season for the Amsterdam giants after Johan Cruyff, Wim Kieft, Gerald Vanenburg, Marco van Basten and Patrick Kluivert.

43

years since Gerd Muller became the last player to score 30 goals in back-to-back Bundesliga seasons, Robert Lewandowski repeated the feat. The Bayern Munich striker netted 30 goals in 32 games last campaign, and he made it 30 goals in 32 games this season by making it 1-1 away to RB Leipzig on Saturday. It was the first home league goal Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side had conceded in over seven-and-a-half hours, and made Lewandowski the 15th player to reach 150 Bundesliga goals. A brace from Timo Werner - he now has four goals in two appearances - helped Leipzig carry a two-goal lead into the last ten minutes, but another from the 28-year-old Pole and stoppage-time efforts from David Alaba and Arjen Robben snatched Bayern a dramatic 5-4 victory.

15

away goals is what Alexis Sanchez scored in the 2016/17 Premier League – the second-most in a campaign behind Kevin Phillips, who hit 16 for Sunderland in 1999/2000. The 28-year-old Chilean’s goal at Stoke City on Saturday made him the eighth player to net 50 Premier League goals for Arsenal after Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Robin van Persie, Dennis Bergkamp, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Robert Pires. Sanchez then hit a late double to earn a 2-0 win over Sunderland on Tuesday that left him one behind Romelu Lukaku of Everton in the race to finish as the Premier League’s leading marksman. That race is now led by Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane, who scored four times in a 6-1 win at Leicester City last night to move on to 26 for the season - two ahead of Lukaku and three in front of Sanchez. As for Arsenal, they finished Tuesday's game having registered 36 shots – more than Sunderland have managed in eight of the ten months of the season. It kept alive Arsenal’s chances of qualifying for an 18th successive UEFA Champions League.

Quick hits 367goals in Europe’s top five leagues is what Real Madrid No7 Cristiano Ronaldo moved on to with a double against Celta Vigo, breaking the all-time record held by Jimmy Greaves.

4consecutive Portuguese top-tier titles is what record champions Benfica won for the first time in history on Saturday. It equalled Sporting’s feat from 1951 to ’54 and is bettered only by Porto’s from 1995 to ’99.