It was quite the manic weekend of football that climaxed with Manchester United's 4-3 win over Liverpool in extra time in their FA Cup quarterfinal, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Coventry City joining them in the semifinals. The limited Premier League action saw Tottenham lose ground to Aston Villa in the race for Top four spots after a 0-3 loss at Fulham. Over in Spain, Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 to leapfrog Girona in the table while Real Madrid extended their lead to eight points with a win over Osasuna.
Inter's march to the Serie A title continued unabated despite drawing 1-1 with Napoli, with AC Milan defeating Hellas Verona to grab second place after Juve drew. It was status quo in the Bundesliga as both Leverkusen and Bayern picked up wins while PSG extended their Ligue 1 lead to 12 points after thrashing Montpellier.
ESPN's By The Numbers has the best stats from the weekend:
FA Cup
11
Manchester United have eliminated Liverpool from the FA Cup a total of 11 times - their best record against any opposition in the competition. Despite the thrilling nature of the win, the result was in line with the history books - this fixture in the FA Cup has not seen a visiting team win since Manchester United defeated Liverpool at Anfield 3-1 in 1959-60 FA Cup 4th Round, with Bobby Charlton scoring twice. Liverpool, meanwhile, had not beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup since January 12, 1921.
2
Manchester United have reached consecutive FA Cup semifinals for the first time since winning tournament in 2003-04 and finishing runner-up in 2004-05
2
It was a day of two's for Amad Diallo - his 120th minute winner was only his second-ever goal for the club, while he also received a second yellow card for taking his shirt off in the celebrations - thus ensuring he will miss the semifinal. He became the first Manchester United player to score and be sent off in a game since Nemanja Matic in the 2020 League Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
7
Marcus Rashford now has 7 goals in 17 career appearances against Liverpool, his second-most goals scored against any opponent in his career (8 in 16 games vs Leicester City).
5, 8 and 13
Mohamed Salah became the first visiting player to score in 5 straight games at Old Trafford in the 21st century. His tally of 13 goals in 14 career appearances against Manchester United, all as a Liverpool player, are the most goals he has scored against any opponent in his career.
Mo Salah's 8 goals at Old Trafford are the most by any visiting player in the 21st century ��
He's scored more goals against Man United than any other team in his career (13) �� pic.twitter.com/yWPadL0aGw
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 17, 2024
1
Prior to this loss, Liverpool had a 32-2-0 (W-D-L) record when holding a 2nd-half lead in all competitions this season (draws against Fulham and Brighton).
26
Cole Palmer is up to 26 goal contributions (14 G, 12 A) in all competitions for Chelsea this season. Last season, Raheem Sterling led all Chelsea players with just 13 goal contributions across all competitions (9 G, 4 A).
37
Coventry City hadn't reached the FA Cup semifinals since 1986-87, when it won the FA Cup 37 years ago, defeating Tottenham 3-2 in the final (A.E.T.). They last reached the semifinals of a top-flight competition in 1989-90, when the club lost in the Carabao Cup semifinals to Nottingham Forest (2-1 on aggregate). Interestingly, Manchester United, their semifinal opponents, lost the most recent FA Cup meeting against Coventry City, 1-0 on January 31, 1987 in the 4th Round (first season of Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure).
6
Manchester City became the first team in FA Cup history to reach the semifinals in 6 consecutive tournaments.
Premier League
9
Fulham ended a 9-match winless streak (0-1-8) against Tottenham in the Premier League. Their 3-0 win was also close to breaking another record - the club hadn't defeated Spurs by more than 3 goals in the league since a 5-0 win on January 2, 1905.
7
Rodrigo Muniz has scored 7 goals in as many games for Fulham since the start of February - more that any other player in the league.
Relegation battling Luton Town have scored more Premier League goals (41) than Manchester United this season (39) ��
Wild stat! pic.twitter.com/0FyqtJCViz
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 15, 2024
LaLiga
200
Carlo Ancelotti earned his 200th win in charge of Real Madrid, joining Miguel Munoz as the only other manager in the club's history to reach the milestone.
19
Vinícius Júnior has the most yellow cards for dissent/arguing by any player in Europe's top 5 leagues over the last 3 seasons (19), 3 more than any other player in that span (all competitions).
3-0
Prior to their 3-0 win yesterday, Barcelona had not won a LaLiga game by a multiple goal difference at Atlético Madrid since 2007, when they won 6-0.
623 and 20
Robert Lewandowski now has 623 official career goals for club and country, one away from tying Dutchman Abe Lenstra for the 10th-most in men's football history. His 20 goal contributions this season are also the highest in LaLiga.
14
Barcelona have gone 14 games unbeaten 8-6-0 (W-D-L) away from home in LaLiga this season. The only teams in LaLiga history not to lose an away game all season were 1931-32 Real Madrid (3-6-0 in and 18-game season) and 1929-30 Athletic Club (4-5-0 in an 18-game season).
1 and 28
Almería avoided setting an ignominious record in Europe's top 5 leagues with its first win of the season, 1-0, against Las Palmas. Their 28-game winless start to the season was tied with Serie A's 2003-04 Ancona and 1971-72 Varese outfits with the worst record in Europe's Top 5 leagues.
Serie A
5000
AC Milan scored their 5000th goal in Serie A history, becoming only the third club to do so (after Juventus and Inter Milan).
1
Daniel Maldini has scored more direct free kick goals (1) than his father, Paolo ever has in Serie A.
12
Christian Pulisic has 12 goals in all competitions this season, his best ever season since scoring 11 in 2019-20 with Chelsea. The American also scored in 4 straight games for the first time in his career
Bundesliga
38
Bayer Leverkusen 33-5-0 (W-D-L) record in all competitions this season, ties 2004-05 Inter Milan for the second-longest unbeaten start in the last 60 years by a team from Europe's top 5 leagues (also since the inception of the Bundesliga).
22 and 6
Bayer Leverkusen's 22 wins in the Bundesliga this season are already a club record, as is their run of six straight away wins. Xabi Alonso's side are also the second team in Bundesliga history to go unbeaten in its first 26 games, behind Pep Guardiola's 2013-14 Bayern Munich vintage, which had a 28-game unbeaten start.
20
Alex Grimaldo now has 11 assists to go along with 9 goals in the Bundesliga this season - the most goal contributions, 20, by a defender in Europe's top 5 leagues in the last 15 seasons.
31
Harry Kane is the first Englishman to score more than 30 league goals in one of Europe's top 5 leagues since Alan Shearer scored 31 for Blackburn in 1995-96 in the Premier League. Kane's 31 goals are also a record by a player in their debut Bundesliga season (Uwe Seeler scored 30 goals in 1963-64). Kane is now 10 behind Robert Lewandowski's record 41-goal season, with 8 games to go. He's also four behind his best ever goal-scoring season in all competitions (41, for Tottenham in 2017-18).
Ligue 1
9, 38 and 188
Kylian Mbappe continues to make the records tumble - he scored his 188th Ligue 1 goal against Montpellier, which took him past Fleury di Nallo (Lyon's all-time top scorer with 187 goals) in the Ligue 1 record scorers list. Mbappe is now in eighth place in the all-time table, but has a long way to go to beat Delio Onnis' record of 299 goals in the league. Mbappe's hat-trick against Montpellier was also his 9th in the league and 14th for PSG in all competitions. With 38 goals in all competitions, Mbappe leads the way among Europe's Top 5 leagues, with Harry Kane behind him on 37 goals.
2 and 2
Monaco's 2-2 draw against Lorient saw 2 own goal and 2 red cards in the same match - the first time it has happened in the league since October 1993, more than 30 years ago.
Messi-Ronaldo Watch
30
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 30th goal of the season in all competitions as Al-Nassr reversed a trend of three winless games with a 1-0 win.
2
Lionel Messi missed his second consecutive game for Inter Miami as his injury continues to be evaluated 'week-by-week'.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)