Friday 07 April 2017, 06:42

A coast-to-coast charge and a rocket

  • A challenge to Christian Eriksen’s rule as the daddy of Danish free-kick takers

  • ‘The Madman’ threatens to rip up a mad stat in the Guinness World Records

  • An insane dribble spoils the script in Bolivia

One thunder-themed wonder goal and another dribble-decorated wonder goal feature in FIFA.com’slatest stats review, along with a new Roman idol from where Romans used to rule, a club’s insuperability in cup competition, and a pit stop home on the global tour of ‘The Madman’.

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metres from goal: that is where Universidad Catolica’s Jordy Caicedo collected possession and, without relinquishing it, scored against Petrolero in the Copa Sudamericana on Tuesday. The 20-year-old substitute, who dazzled recently as Ecuador qualified for the forthcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup, took just 11 seconds to run from one end of the pitch to the other, bury the ball in the bottom corner of Ivan Brun’s net, seal a 3-1 away win, and give Wilmer Godoy an assist from a pass made inside his own penalty area. The inaugural match at the impressive Estadio Provincial de Yacuiba therefore ended in disappointment for hosts Petrolero, who have now lost six successive games. Their Ecuadorean visitors, meanwhile, netted more than one goal in CONMEBOL competition for the first time in 13 attempts, and more than two for only the third time in history and the first time since 1980.

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seconds is all it took Lasse Schone to become only the third player to score in the first minute in the 96-year history De Klassieker. Piet Burg, for Feyenoord in 1936, and Johnny Rep, for Ajax in 1973, had managed the feat. Only 15 seconds of action had unfolded when Schone’s trickery won Ajax a free-kick, which he then rocketed home off the underside of the crossbar from a whopping 40 yards. Justin Kluivert, at 17 years and 332 days, had become the youngest player to start De Klassieker in Amsterdam since Clarence Seedorf on his last day as a 16-year-old in 1993 – Feyenoord midfielder Dirk Kuyt, 36, was already an established Eredivisie player when Patrick Kluivert’s second son was born. But it didn’t stop the Netherlands youth international setting up Brazil U-20 forward David Neres, another player making his Klassieker debut, for Ajax’s second. Kluivert then went off to a standing ovation at the Amsterdam ArenA, and though Feyenoord got a stoppage-time consolation, Ajax won 2-1 to extend their unbeaten league run in the fixture to ten games and cut Feyenoord’s at the top to three points.

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had passed since Dundee lost by more than six goals until Aberdeen ran riot against them on Saturday. A Celtic XI including seven members of the ‘Lisbon Lions’ – they had upset an Inter Milan side featuring Tarcisio Burgnich, Giacinto Facchetti and Sandro Mazzola in the 1967 European Cup final – won 8-1 at Dens Park in 1971. There, Irish forward Adam Rooney notched his 75th goal for the Dons in all competitions and 100th league goal in Scottish football, and Andy Considine scored more Scottish Premier League goals in one match (three) as he had in the previous four seasons combined (two goals in 108 appearances), to inspire a 7-0 victory. Aberdeen have now won six successive league matches against Dundee, and are unbeaten in 13 editions of the fixture.

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consecutive Coupe de la Ligue trophies have been lifted by Paris Saint-Germain – just one shy of the European record for successive league cup conquests. It equalled the feats of Liverpool (1981-84), Derry City (2005-08), Benfica (2009-12) and Cliftonville (2013-16), while Celtic won five straight Scottish League Cups (1966-70). Edinson Cavani bagged a brace in the 4-1 defeat of Monaco on Saturday. The 30-year-old has now scored twice in three Coupe de la Ligue finals, averaging a goal every 35 minutes in the fixture, and has netted 40 goals in 40 games for PSG in all competitions this season. Four days later PSG thrashed Avranches 4-0 to book a Coupe de France semi-final with Monaco and, astonishingly, secure themselves a 30th successive victory in French cup competition.

Quick hits 3614 days– almost ten years – expired between Adrian Mariappa’s 19th and 20th appearances for Watford in the Premier League. It is the longest gap between two appearances for a club in the competition.

615appearances is what Gigi Buffon reached to go joint-second on Serie A’s all-time list, alongside Javier Zanetti. Only Paolo Maldini (647) has played more games.

33 goals in a season is what Edin Dzeko became the first Roma player to score on Saturday, edging past the previous record shared by Rodolfo Volk (1930/31) and Francesco Totti (2006/07).

24 clubs now decorate the CV of Sebastien Abreu after he joined Uruguayan second-tier team Central Espanol. The 40-year-old, who made his professional debut in 1995, is chasing the world record of 25 owned by continent-hopping former goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel.