There was a lot of drama in Europe midweek, but everything is pale in the face of it – Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in football history to score 800 goals in official competitions (according to the International Federation for History and football statistics). Moments later, he reached 801. One player. EIGHT HUNDRED ONE GOALS. All capitals seem appropriate. Before By The Numbers breaks down some of Ronaldo’s more interesting stats, we’re putting together the league action midweek:

premier league

2

Mohamed Salah is the first Liverpool player to score twice for Everton in the Merseyside derby since Fernando Torres in September 2008. His brace helped Liverpool beat Everton 4-1.

4

Newcastle United are just the fourth team to fail to win any of their first 14 games in a PL campaign – the previous three have been relegated (Swindon 1993-94, QPR 2012-13, Sheffield United 2020-21).

9

Emile Smith Rowe’s opener meant that at this point Manchester United had conceded nine straight PL League goals at Old Trafford without scoring in between. It was their longest unanswered home league goal streak since November 1961 (also new).

15

A bit of a funky statistic. Leeds United have managed to convert each of their last 15 penalties to PL, since Alan Smith failed to score on the spot against Blackburn in September … 2002.

18

Liverpool are in some form right now. They have now scored more than 2 goals in 18 consecutive games in all competitions, the longest such streak ever for a top-flight England team. He surpassed Sunderland’s record of 17 games from October 1926 to February 1927).

21

Mohammad Salah has already scored 21 goals (13G, 8A) in 14 PL games this season. This beats the previous record for goal contributions at this stage of a PL season, previously held by Thierry Henry (20 in ’04 -’05; 11G, 9A).

43 and 25

Liverpool have scored 43 league goals this season, more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues. 25 of them returned from their homes, which after seven matches is the most since Burnley in 1961-62 (also 25).

49

Sergi Canos’ goal against Tottenham Hotspur is Brentford’s first goal in PL. They are the 49th of the 50 teams to play in the competition to have scored at least one Olympics. The only exception? Cardiff City (76 games, 0 own goal).

53

Thursday saw the first-ever top-flight meeting between Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford. It was – and this is a remarkable number – the 53rd different London Derby match to be played at England’s top level.

150

Pep Guardiola has won 150 PL games with Man City – only the fourth manager to reach that total for a PL club. Having reached this milestone in just 204 games, he broke Sir Alex Ferguson’s record at Manchester United (150th PL victory in his 247th game).

The league

7

Athletic Bilbao’s loss to Real Madrid ended their 7-game unbeaten streak in La Liga. It was the club’s longest unbeaten streak on the road to open a La Liga season since 1929-30, when they ended the 18-game season unbeaten.

17

Real Madrid, meanwhile, extended their home unbeaten streak to 17 (the last home league loss was on January 30 against Levante). It is the longest active home unbeaten streak in La Liga and the 3rd longest in the top 5 European leagues (Inter Milan (24) and Napoli (18)).

19

This is in large part thanks to the incredible form of Karim Benzema. Benzema has 19 goals in La Liga this season (12 G / 7 A), 8 more than anyone else (Vinicius Jr., 11).

series A

73

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now scored 73 Serie A goals for AC Milan, tying Filippo Inzaghi for the 10th most league goals in the team’s history.

Messi Ronaldo Watch

Just the one man to watch midweek, and boy did he make it worth it.

801

To repeat, according to the IFFHS, Cristiano Ronaldo is the first to 800 goals in official matches. Just to make you realize how ridiculous that number is … if you were to score 40 goals for 20 consecutive seasons, you would have 800 goals. Ronaldo has one more, and there are surely more to come.

90

His 2nd goal of the match was the 90th of his PL career, leaving him with 1 chance to match Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the 6th in Manchester United history. Now more stats from his remarkable 800 (+) run.

100+

Ronaldo is the only player to score 100 goals in the top Spanish, England and Italy. The team break … 450 (in 438 games for Real Madrid), 130 (in 308 for Manchester United), 115 (in 184 for Portugal), 101 (in 134 for Juventus) and 5 (in 31 for Sporting Lisbon).

18

Ronaldo has scored in 18 of the 20 separate competitions he has played. The only exceptions? The UEFA Cup (0 in 2 matches) and the Community Shield (0 goals in 1 match).

5

He has won five golden shoes in his career. 1 x Premier League (2007-08), 3 x La Liga (2010-11, 2013-14, 2014-15), 1 x Serie A (2020-21).

0.64 against 0.90

Ronaldo’s productivity across 30 is unreal. Before turning 30, he averaged 0.64 goals per game (463 in 718). After turning 30, he scored an average of 0.90 (!!) goals per game (338 in 377).

27

Has Ronaldo’s opponent scored the most? Sevilla, with 27 goals in 18 games. Next come Atletico Madrid (25 out of 35), Getafe (23 out of 14) and Barcelona (20 out of 34).

0

The only teams that Ronaldo played 4 or more games against and didn’t score? Benfica (0 out of 5), Lille and Albania (0 out of 4 each).

(Statistics courtesy of ESPN Statistics and News Group)