A hypersonic hat-trick by the Bay of Biscay and an insane game by the Pennines feature in FIFA.com’s latest stats review, along with an almighty upset and a pioneering female coach.
103
years: that is how long had passed since Queens Park Rangers became the last non-league side to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals until Lincoln City repeated the feat on Saturday. The Imps, founded in 1884 and now in the English fifth tier, played in front of 482 spectators two months ago against Nantwich Town, but they were not overwhelmed playing in front of close to 20,000 against Premier League opposition on Saturday. Sean Raggett’s unanswered, last-gasp goal came with Lincoln’s only shot on target at Burnley, and made them only the third non-league team in history to eliminate four league sides in an FA Cup campaign. Lincoln’s reward was a last-eight date with Arsenal, whom they beat 1-0 in their last meeting – albeit 102 years ago.
20
matches is what it took Sydney FC to suffer their first loss of the 2016/17 A-League season, with their dream of becoming the first team in history to survive a regular-season campaign without defeat ending in the backyard of their bitterest rivals. Western Sydney Wanderers had this term won just one of nine home games, while Sydney FC had scored ten goals in their previous three visits. However, Vedran Janjetovic and Brendon Santalab – both former Sky Blues players – kept a clean sheet and scored the only goal respectively to grab the Wanderers their first victory in the Sydney Derby in ten attempts. Sydney FC now require 11 points from their remaining seven outings to break Western Sydney’s record for most points in a 27-round campaign.
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goals is what made Manchester City’s 5-3 defeat of Monaco the highest-scoring first leg of a knockout tie in UEFA Champions League history. The last time part one of a knockout tie in Europe’s top club competition produced more goals was in 1990 – the group stage did not exist in the European Cup – when Emilio Butragueno and Hugo Sanchez helped Real Madrid smash Swarovski Tirol 9-1 in the second round. Kylian Mbappe, at 18 years and two months, became the second-youngest Frenchman to score in the tournament – after a 17-year-old Karim Benzema – to give Monaco a 2-1 lead. Falcao then missed a chance to double the lead when Willy Caballero ensured Manchester City’s goalkeepers have saved the last five penalties they have faced in the Champions League. Falcao did atone by converting a breathtaking chip to complete his double, make it as many goals in Manchester on Tuesday night as he did during a year at Old Trafford, and put Monaco 3-2 up. City nevertheless netted thrice in 11 minutes to emerge victorious, with Sergio Aguero’s brace taking him joint-third on the list of the Champions League’s highest-scoring South Americans, level with Rivaldo (27) and behind Kaka (30) and Lionel Messi (93).
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minutes and 43 seconds is what it took Kevin Gameiro to score La Liga’s fastest hat-trick in 22 years. It narrowly beat the treble David Villa netted for Valencia against Athletic Bilbao in 2006, and was shy only of the one Bebeto bagged for Deportivo La Coruna against Albacete – in just under four minutes – in 1995. It took Yannick Carrasco merely 13 seconds into the second half to put Atletico Madrid ahead at Sporting Gijon on Saturday – it was the quickest goal after the restart in La Liga since Recreativo Huelva’s Javier Camunas stunned Numancia in 2009. Sporting Gijon equalised immediately, but Gameiro became only the fourth substitute in La Liga history to score a hat-trick to power Atleti to a 4-1 win that extended their unbeaten run in the competition to eight matches. The 29-year-old France forward started and scored in Los Rojiblancos’ 4-2 success at Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Gameiro has now posted five goals in his last 142 minutes of action.
0
women had coached a men’s team in continental club competition until Chan Yuen Ting became the first. A teenage crush on David Beckham got the 28-year-old interested in football, and she admitted to crying when England, whom her idol was captaining, lost 2-1 to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™ quarter-finals. Ironically, Chan found herself coaching against Scolari – there was a 40-year age gap between them – as Eastern SC and Guangzhou Evergrande did battle in the AFC Champions League. The Hongkongers, who were once coached by Bobby Moore, ultimately finished the contest having had two players sent off in a 7-0 defeat.
Quick hits 29 years and 210 days was the age that made Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann younger than the average age of the team he was pitting his wits against (Darmstadt’s average age was two weeks’ older) – a German Bundesliga first.
6 clean sheets: that is what Feyenoord achieved to become the first team in the Dutch Eredivisie’s 61-year history to begin a calendar year with. Brad Jones, for his part, became the Rotterdam giants’ first goalkeeper since Ed de Goey in 1996/97 to keep 14 shutouts in a season.