Club football returned from the international break with a bang, with plenty of late-winners and controversial refereeing decisions taking place. Liverpool returned to the summit of the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Chelsea, while Manchester City needed an injury-time goal to beat Wolves. Arsenal dropped points with a loss to Bournemouth, with Manchester United and Tottenham bringing up wins.
Real Madrid and Barcelona won both their games ahead of El Clasico next week, with the latter leading the league. Over in Italy, Inter and Juventus beat their Roman opponents, while Napoli still leads the league with a win over Empoli. Bayern continue to lead the Bundesliga alongside RB Leipzig, while PSG and Monaco are tied atop Ligue 1.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of stats from weekend's football matches:
PREMIER LEAGUE
21
Liverpool's 21 points so far is the club's second best start eight games into a PL season, after 24 pts in the 2019-20 title-winning season
10
Liverpool have won 10 of 11 games in all competitions under Arne Slot - the best of any manager in club history. Only Pep Guardiola (won first 10) reached 10 wins in all competitions as a Premier League manager in fewer matches than Slot
3 and 162
Mohamed Salah already has three games with a goal and assist this season, tied with Eintracht Frankfurt's Omar Marmoush for the most in Europe's top 5 leagues. The Egyptian also scored his 162nd Premier League goal, tying Jermain Defoe for 9th on the all-time PL top scorers list, 1 goal shy of Robbie Fowler for 8th
32 and 10
Since the start of last season, Man City's 32 points and 10 wins after conceding first are both the most in Europe's top 5 leagues; City are 4-0-0 this season in such games. That was City's first stoppage time game winner in the Premier League since Jan. 13 vs Newcastle
0 and 13
Erling Haaland failed to record a shot in a Premier League match for only the third time in his career. Haaland's 13 touches against Wolves were also his fewest in a Premier League match in which he played 90 minutes.
6
Josko Gvardiol has 6 goals in 2024, tied with Augsburg's Keven Schlotterbeck for the most by a defender in Europe's top 5 leagues this year.
1
Arsenal's loss to Bournemouth was their first away defeat in the Premier League this calendar year.
5
Rasmus Højlund has tied Bruno Fernandes (5) for most game-winning goals by a Manchester United player since the start of last season (all competitions).
LALIGA
42 and 20
Real Madrid extended their LALIGA unbeaten streak to a club-record 42 games, the second-longest unbeaten streak in LALIGA history (Barcelona: 43 from 2017-18). Barcelona have the chance to deny Madrid their record - with the next game being El Clasico.
Real Madrid also extended their unbeaten streak away from home to 20 games - the longest active streak in LALIGA and the longest such streak in club history.
39y 40d
At 39 years, 40 days, Luka Modric became the oldest player to appear for Real Madrid in a competitive match, breaking Ferenc Puskás's record (39y-36d), who last appeared for Real Madrid on May 8, 1966, in a Copa del Generalisimo (now the Copa del Rey) match against Real Betis.
6
Vinícius Júnior has scored or assisted in his last 6 LALIGA games, his longest such streak in the league.
10
Barcelona have won their last 10 games at home (going back to last season). It is the longest such active streak in La Liga and the club's best since winning 14 consecutive home games in Feb-Dec 2019
34
Sevilla have only won one of their last 35 games against Barcelona (1-8-26 W-D-L).
12 and 366
Robert Lewandowski scored his 12th LALIGA goals this season, most of any player in the Europe's top 5 leagues. It was also his 366th career goal in Europe's top 5 leagues, passing Gerd Muller and tying Jimmy Greaves for third in the all-time list. Only Lionel Messi (496) and Cristiano Ronaldo (495) have scored more.
6
Lamine Yamal brought up his sixth assist of the season, the second most in Europe's top 5 leagues so far. The youngster is the first Barcelona player to have at least six assists in the first ten games since Lionel Messi did so in the 2014/15 season (seven assists).
The last two Barcelona players to assist six goals in the first ten matches of a LALIGA season:
▫️ Lamine Yamal (2024-25)
▫️ Lionel Messi (2014-15)Not bad �� pic.twitter.com/gbFBVImWvM
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 20, 2024
58
Antoine Griezmann scored his 58th game-winning goal in LALIGA since joining Atlético Madrid in 2014-15. Excluding his stint with Barcelona (2019-21), that's the most in LALIGA in that span.
297
Diego Simeone brought up his 297th win in LALIGA as a manager, three away from being the third manager with 300+ wins (Luis Aragonés, Miguel Muñoz are the other two).
500
Daniel Parejo made his 500th LALIGA appearance, becoming the 15th player to reach the mark.
SERIE A
133
Lautaro Martínez tied Stefano Nyers as the highest-scoring non-Italian in Inter Milan's history, scoring his 133rd goal for the club in all competitions.
1
Juventus have made their best defensive start to a Serie A season, conceding only one goal in the first eight games.
BUNDESLIGA
Harry Kane had eight hat tricks in his entire Premier League career.
He just scored his sixth Bundesliga hat trick �� pic.twitter.com/uX6LlOTP8s
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 19, 2024
6
Harry Kane has already scored the sixth hat-trick of his Bundesliga career. He had eight in total in his Premier League career.
13
Serhou Guirassy scored his thirteenth game-winning goal in the Bundesliga since the start of last season, tied with Harry Kane for most in that span.
LIGUE 1
26
With 26 goals conceded in 8 games, Montpellier have made the worst defensive start to a Ligue 1 season in the last 55 years. Rennes conceded 28 goals in the first eight games of the 1969-70 season.
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
Lionel Messi produced a stunning performance as Inter Miami topped the MLS table with a record points haul - the Argentina scoring three and assisting once in a 33-minute spell. Cristiano Ronaldo also found the net for Al Nassr - making it four goals in his last four games.
INTER MIAMI HAVE DONE IT ��
A MESSI HAT-TRICK PROPELS THEM TO THE WIN AND THEY FINISH WITH THE MOST POINTS IN MLS REGULAR SEASON HISTORY �� pic.twitter.com/Cq1qP79qNb
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 20, 2024
33
Lionel Messi as already Inter Miami's all-time top-scorer, scoring his 33rd goal to take him past Leonardo Campana.
1
Messi scored his first hat-trick with Inter Miami and only his second-ever hat-trick as a substitute.
55
Ronaldo scored his 55th goal in the Saudi Pro League (17 PK goals), doing so in just 54 games.
(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)