Another entertaining weekend of European football with title races in full swing along with cup finals. Liverpool overcame injuries and a serious challenge from Chelsea to win the Carabao Cup with captain Virgil van Dijk scoring the winner in the extra-time. In the Premier League, Arsenal and Manchester City won while Manchester United suffered defeat against Fulham.
In LaLiga, Real Madrid beat Sevilla while Barcelona scored four past Getafe. Bayern Munich are back to winning ways in Bundesliga and Bayer Leverkusen extend their unbeaten run to register another record.
ESPN's By The Numbers has the best stats from the weekend:
Carabao Cup Final
10
Liverpool became the first club to win 10 League Cup titles and is tied with Manchester United for the most FA Cup and League Cup titles combined in English football history (Manchester United has 12 FA, 6 EFL; Liverpool has 10 EFL, 8 FA Cups).
13
Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher didn't concede a goal in either of his two finals for Liverpool (both against Chelsea) despite facing 13 shots on target.
Virgil van Dijk heard the talk �� pic.twitter.com/ie1ZIVHeQQ
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 25, 2024
118
Virgil van Dijk scored the winner for Liverpool in the 118th minute. It was the latest winning goal scored in a League Cup final since Aston Villa's Brian Little in 1977 (119th minute v Everton).
3
Van Dijk has been named Player of the Match in three finals for Liverpool - 2019 Champions League final, 2022 League Cup final and 2024 League Cup final.
Premier League
5
Bukayo Saka became the first English player to score in five consecutive Premier League games for Arsenal since Ian Wright (7 between September and November 1994).
97
Fulham's Alex Iwobi scored the winner at Old Trafford at 96:04. It is the second latest winning goal ever scored against Manchester United in the Premier League, and the latest goal on record (since 2006-07) scored by the visiting team at Old Trafford in the competition.
16
Manchester City's Phil Foden has 16 goal contributions in the Premier League this season (9 goals, 7 assists), tying his career best in a single PL season (last season he had 11 goals, 5 assists).
LaLiga
38 years, 169 days
At 38, Luka Modric became the oldest Real Madrid player with a game-winning goal in LaLiga since Ferenc Puskas scored a game-winning goal for Real Madrid when he was 38 years, 212 days old on October 31, 1965 at Zaragoza.
Enjoy him while you still can. pic.twitter.com/12x6RaHfpb
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 25, 2024
4
Barcelona's Joao Felix has scored four goals in his last eight LaLiga games after scoring once in his previous 11 league games this season.
19 years
Almeria's Luka Romero is the first player 19 years or younger to score multiple goals in a LaLiga game against one of the 'Big 3' clubs since Lionel Messi did it in 2007, also against Atletico Madrid.
Serie A
100
Inter Milan's Lautaro Martínez became the third foreign player to score 100 goals in Serie A with Inter, after Stefano Nyers and Mauro Icardi.
25
Martinez has joined Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah as the only players from Europe's top 5 leagues with 25 goal contributions in each of the last five seasons (all comps).
1002
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri became the first coach in Serie A history (since 1929/30) to reach the milestone of 1000+ points after 301 wins, 99 draws and 96 defeats.
Bundesliga
17
Harry Kane has scored 17 Bundesliga home goals for Bayern Munich this season, equalling his personal record for home goals in a single league campaign (2016-17 with Tottenham).
1000
Bayern Munich played their 1000th home game in the Bundesliga against RB Leipzig - they became the first club in the history of the league to reach this mark.
HISTORY FOR BAYER LEVERKUSEN!!!
They break Bayern Munich's record, becoming the first German club in history to go 33 matches unbeaten across all competitions.
What a job by Xabi Alonso! �� pic.twitter.com/6svp5XtljO
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 23, 2024
50
At 20 years and 296 days, Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz has reached the mark of 50 direct goal involvements in the Bundesliga. Since data collection from 2004-05, only Jadon Sancho (19Y, 299 days) and Kai Havertz (20Y, 270 days) were younger when reaching this mark.
33
Bayer Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run for the 33rd consecutive competitive match, which is a new record. Never before has a Bundesliga team remained unbeaten for so long.
Messi-Ronaldo Watch
9
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in nine straight club games for the first time with Al Nassr and the first time since the 2019-20 season when he did it with Juventus (all club competitions).
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)