A Clairefontaine graduate, a forward in his 40s and a managerial merry-go-round on a Mediterranean island feature inFIFA.com’slatest stats review, as do pieces of history in Argentina and Switzerland.
40
years and 44 days was the age at which Magno Alves became the oldest player in Fluminense’s 114-year history on Sunday, robbing Mexico 1970-winning goalkeeper Felix of the distinction by nine days. A dispute between coach Levir Culpi and striker Fred saw ‘Magata’ handed his 300th appearance for the club, and he took his chance is style. The ninth highest scorer in Campeonato Brasileiro history broke the deadlock with his 119th goal for Flu, taking him level with Ezio as the Carioca outfit’s tenth leading marksman behind the likes of Russia-born Adolpho Milman, Liverpudlian battering ram Henry Welfare, former Brazil coach Tele Santana, the aforementioned Fred and record-holder Waldo Machado. Magno Alves then produced a slick dummy to set up Edson’s goal in a 2-0 win, making it 11 games unbeaten for Fluminense.
18
years: that’s how long Young Boys had gone without beating Lugano in the league until they smashed the streak with their biggest victory at the Stade de Suisse on Saturday. Since a 2-1 away win in May 1998, Lugano had gone eight championship games undefeated against Young Boys, and had been the only team to win at the 2005-erected Bern stadium this season. However, seven goals from seven men – Miralem Sulejmani, Milan Galic, Yuya Kubo, Yoric Ravet, Guillaume Hoarau, Raphael Nuzzolo and Leonardo Bertone – secured a 7-0 triumph that eclipsed the Yellow-Blacks’ 6-0 reverse of Vaduz in 2009. Lugano have, worryingly, scored zero and conceded 13 in their last two games to fall bottom on goal difference.
16
goals in 29 Ligue 1 games is what Nice attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa has scored this season – as many as he did in his previous 127 appearances in the competition for Lyon and Marseille. The 29-year-old brought up the statistic with the first hat-trick of a career that began in 2004 against, ironically, his current club. It sent Rennes home from the Allianz Riviera with a 3-0 loss and gave Nice a fourth victory in five games – the other result being defeat at Paris Saint-Germain – that elevated them to fourth. Ben Arfa has now scored with eight of his last 11 shots on target.
9
coaching changes is what Palermo have astonishingly made this season – including seven in the past three months! The latest came after a Miroslav Klose double in Sicily on Sunday took his tally to 51 goals in 135 Serie A games, and helped secure Simone Inzaghi a 3-0 victory on his coaching debut, ending Lazio’s run of eight consecutive away draws in all competitions. That prompted Maurizio Zamparini to end Walter Novellino’s reign after one point from a possible 12, but at least he can take solace from the fact that he lasted three matches longer than Fabio Viviani and Giovanni Bosi.
4
straight quarter-final exits from the UEFA Champions League have now befallen Paris Saint-Germain after their 3-2 aggregate loss to Manchester City on Tuesday. The Parisiens had been denied semi-final places by Barcelona twice and Chelsea in the previous three seasons. Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to score for the first time in six appearances in the tournament, with Kevin de Bruyne netting his second goal of the tie with just his second shot on target in it to make City the tenth English club to reach the European Cup/Champions League semis. City have now won all seven of the ties in UEFA club competition in which they drew the first leg away – a run that began when Joe Corrigan, Asa Hartford, Mick Channon and Brian Kidd eliminated AC Milan from the 1978/79 UEFA Cup.
Quick hits 90,000 goals in 85 years of professional football in Argentina was the landmark reached on Sunday. Santiago Stelcaldo of Velez Sarsfield was the provider of the strike in question, finding the net in a dramatic 3-2 win at Rosario Central.
21 years since the last defender played his first 50 Serie A games without being booked, Juventus centre-back Daniele Rugani repeated the feat.
14 is the number of own-goals Nacional have conceded in the Copa Libertaores – they had shared the record with Peru’s Universitario – after Nacho Gonzalez inadvertently handed River Plate a 2-2 draw last Thursday. Edgar Baeza netted the Montevideo heavyweights’ first ‘autogol’ in the 1964 semi-finals.