Striking starts to coaching tenures in Manchester and Munich feature in FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with doubles, trebles, assists, possession and penalty saves.
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minutes is all it took San Lorenzo’s Nicolas Blandi to post the third-fastest brace in Copa Sudamericana history. Liga de Quito’s Claudio Bieler and Marco Lazaga of Olimpia hit doubles after seven and eight minutes respectively during the previous decade. After seven changes of possession between Ciclón players in just ten seconds, Blandi nodded home to put them 2-0 up at home to Banfield on six minutes. The 26-year-old striker soon made it 3-0, and the 4-1 victory saw Diego Aguirre’s side overturn a two-goal defeat and reach the Round of 16. It also left San Lorenzo having netted four goals against fellow Argentinians in a CONMEBOL competition for the third time, after a 4-0 win at River Plate in 1973 and a 6-0 triumph away to Newell’s Old Boys in 1992.
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goals without reply is what Barcelona banged past Celtic to record their biggest victory in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history. Barça’s previous best had been a 7-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen in their Round of 16, second leg in 2012 – a match in which Lionel Messi scored five times. ‘The Atomic Flea’ took just two minutes and 46 seconds to score his fastest Champions League goal on Tuesday. Messi finished the game with his sixth treble in the competition to outrank Cristiano Ronaldo and become the outright record owner of Champions League hat-tricks. The 29-year-old’s first two goals were set up by Neymar, who became the first Barcelona player in 13 years to record four assists in a European game. Meanwhile Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved Moussa Dembele’s spot-kick to protect Barça’s run of having not conceded a penalty at Camp Nou in the Champions League since 2005, when Tim Borowski beat Victor Valdes. Thereafter, Ronaldo missed the target for Manchester United, Valdes repelled Ajax striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s effort, and Ter Stegen denied Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko of Roma.
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goals in stoppage time is what Joel Pohjanpalo became the first player in the Bundesliga’s 53-year history to score on Saturday. The Finn, three days before his 22nd birthday, rose from the bench in the 72nd minute with Bayer Leverkusen losing 1-0 to Hamburg and swiftly nodded home the equaliser. Pohjanpalo then netted a glorious first-time volley and a canny strike to become the first Bayer substitute to score a treble in the German top flight. It was also the Bundesliga’s 100th hat-trick. The comeback preserved Bruno Labbadia’s drought of having never masterminded victory over the club he used to coach (seven defeats, four draws).
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non-Chelsea managers had won their first four Premier League games until Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola cracked it on Saturday. The 45-year-old Spaniard emulated Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti by masterminding victory over Mourinho’s United in the Manchester derby. It left Mourinho having won just one of his last ten meetings with Guardiola. Claudio Bravo’s performance in the City goal was polarising, but he did complete 40 passes – more than all but two United players. Four days later City smashed Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 in the Champions League, despite a Guardiola team having less than 50 per cent of possession for the first time in his coaching career.
Quick hits 600Premier League goals have been conceded by Shay Given after Stoke City’s 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Only David James (665), Mark Schwarzer (653) and Jussi Jaaskelainen (613) have shipped more.
23successive Serie A seasons – a record for any league in the world – have now included a Francesco Totti goal following his last-gasp winner for Roma against Sampdoria.
7 consecutive home victories in CONMEBOL competitions is the figure Atletico Nacional reached with a 1-0 reverse of Bolivar in the Copa Sudamericana – the second-longest in their history. Rene Higuita, Victor Aristizabal and Juan Pablo Angel inspired El Verde to nine straight wins in Medellin in South American tournaments between 1995 and ’97.
5 straight Ivorian Ligue 1 seasons have ended in a club outside the capital conquering after AS Tanda successfully defended their title. Incredibly, the run began in 2011 after the first 35 editions of the competition finished with the trophy in Abidjan.
5 wins from five matches in all competitions, plus 20 goals for and zero against, are the figures that have given Carlo Ancelotti the best start by a new Bundesliga coach.