Haaland achieves first in 89 years; Bayern reaches 100 goals; Messi totals 902, Ronaldo 967
During the FA Cup weekend in England, surprising outcomes were prevalent as Southampton shocked Arsenal, setting up a semifinal matchup against Manchester City, who comfortably defeated Liverpool with a score of 4-0. Chelsea triumphed over Port Vale with a 7-0 scoreline, while Leeds triumphed over West Ham in a penalty shootout, marking their first semifinal appearance since 1987.
In league matches, Barcelona increased their lead in LALIGA to seven points following a comeback victory against Atlético Madrid, while Real Madrid faced a defeat against Mallorca. In Italy, Internazionale cruised past AS Roma, widening their Serie A lead to nine points, although AC Milan, Napoli, and Como are yet to compete this weekend.
Bayern Munich netted two goals in injury time to secure a win over SC Freiburg, maintaining their nine-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga, while PSG increased their lead in Ligue 1 to four points after a 3-1 victory against Toulouse, with Lens losing to Lille.
ESPN’s By The Numbers provides key statistics from the weekend’s football matches:
FA CUP
8
Manchester City reached a record-extending eighth consecutive FA Cup semifinal.
89
Erling Haaland became the first Manchester City player to net a hat trick against Liverpool in 89 years, since Eric Brook at Anfield in March 1937. Haaland has scored six goals in three matches against Liverpool this season, which is double the number he scored in eight encounters against them prior to this season (3).
12
Since his debut for Manchester City in July 2022, Erling Haaland has recorded 12 hat-tricks across all competitions, now the highest in Europe’s top five leagues, surpassing Harry Kane (11).
3
Haaland also became the third player in the Premier League era (since 1992-93) to score in four or more consecutive home matches against Liverpool, following Chris Sutton (4 from 1994 to 1996) and Sergio Agüero (5 from 2013 to 2017).
18
Manchester City has extended their home winning streak in the FA Cup to 18 matches, breaking the record for the longest home winning run by any team in the competition, surpassing Clapham Rovers’ 17 wins from December 1873 to February 1881.
3
City has achieved three consecutive victories against Liverpool in all competitions for the first time since March 1935-37 (4). They also became the first team to defeat Liverpool three times in a single season since West Ham in 2015-16.
1
This marked Manchester City’s first FA Cup victory over Liverpool since 1973. It was also the largest defeat margin for Liverpool under Arne Slot and their worst loss since October 2020 against Aston Villa (7-2).
15
Liverpool’s 15 losses this season across all competitions represent the highest number in a single season since 2014-15 under Brendan Rodgers (18).
2
The last time Southampton eliminated two top-tier teams on their way to the FA Cup semifinals, they went on to win the tournament – in 1975/76.
2
Arsenal has conceded multiple goals in consecutive matches for the first time since January 25-28 (3 against Manchester United, 2 against Kairat in all competitions).
5
Viktor Gyökere has scored five goals in his last three matches for club or country. He had not netted in three consecutive games since April 2025 (also three with Sporting).
7
Chelsea became the first team to score 7 or more goals in an FA Cup quarterfinal since Liverpool defeated Birmingham City 7-0 in the 2005-06 season. This was Chelsea’s highest goal tally and largest victory margin in an FA Cup match since January 2011 when they beat Ipswich Town 7-0 in the third round.
18y 345d
At 18 years and 345 days, Chelsea’s Estêvão is the youngest player to score and assist in an FA Cup match for a Premier League club since Bukayo Saka for Arsenal against Bournemouth in January 2020 (18y 144d).
7
João Pedro has netted 7 FA Cup goals since the start of the 2023-24 season, with only Erling Haaland (9) scoring more in the competition during this timeframe.
39
Leeds United reached their first FA Cup semifinal since 1986-87 (39 years ago), marking the longest gap between semifinal appearances since Leicester City in 2020-21 (also 39), who subsequently lifted the trophy that season.
6/6
Chelsea has progressed all six times they have faced Leeds United in the FA Cup.
3/4
Manchester City and Southampton have met four times in the FA Cup, with City advancing in three of the four previous encounters.
LALIGA
7
Barcelona has increased their LALIGA lead to seven points over second-placed Real Madrid with eight matches remaining; no team in LALIGA history has overturned a seven-point deficit with eight or fewer matches left.
1
Marcus Rashford joined Gary Lineker (4), Laurie Cunningham (2), and Dalian Atkinson (1) as the only English players to score in LALIGA against Atlético Madrid. The last English player to score against Atleti in LALIGA was Dalian Atkinson for Real Sociedad in 1991.
5
Robert Lewandowski netted his fifth game-winning goal in LALIGA this season, tying with teammate Dani Olmo for the second-most. Only Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid has more (8).
118
Robert Lewandowski (118) is now three goals shy of tying Josep Escolà and Patrick Kluivert (121 each) for the ninth-most goals in Barcelona history (all competitions). His latest goal was notable as it was the first he scored with a body part other than his feet or head.
50
Barcelona has scored in 50 consecutive LALIGA matches, the third-longest streak in history by any team (2016/17 Real Madrid – 54, 2012-13 Barcelona – 64). The last time Barca failed to score in a league match was December 15, 2024, against Leganés.
3
Atlético Madrid is currently on a three-game losing streak across all competitions, their longest since December 2021.
25
Diego Simeone has now recorded 25 career losses against Barcelona in all competitions, the most against a single opponent in his managerial career.
7
With their victory on Saturday, Barcelona achieved 7 comeback wins in LALIGA this season, their highest since 2012-13 (7).
3
Real Madrid experienced their third loss in LALIGA under Arbeloa (one more than Xabi Alonso had during his tenure), marking Madrid’s first defeat to Mallorca in LALIGA since February 2023 (8-1-1 W-D-L in their previous 10 LALIGA encounters).
53
Vedat Muriqi scored the decisive goal at 90:33, bringing his career LALIGA total to 53 goals for Mallorca, just one shy of tying Samuel Eto’o for the most in team history. Muriqi became the third Mallorca player in LALIGA history to score in both matches against Real Madrid in a single season, the first since Samuel Eto’o in 2002-03.
3
Since Mallorca’s return to LALIGA in 2019-20, their three home victories against Real Madrid are tied for the most in LALIGA during that period (also Atlético Madrid).
1
Real Madrid has suffered back-to-back LALIGA defeats with Kylian Mbappé in the starting lineup for the first time since he joined the team last season.
5
Kylian Mbappé has now gone five matches without scoring for Madrid, matching his longest drought since joining the club last season (5 in April 2025).
SERIE A
2
The last time an Inter player provided two assists for the same teammate in a Serie A match was on March 4, 2022, when Nicolò Barella assisted Lautaro Martínez twice. Today, Marcus Thuram achieved this for Lautaro Martínez.
60
At exactly 60 seconds, Lautaro Martínez recorded the fastest goal of his career with club or country. His goal at exactly 1:00 is Inter’s second-quickest in Serie A this season, following a goal at 0:39 from Pio Esposito against Fiorentina.
16
Lautaro Martínez has extended his lead as Serie A’s top scorer with his 16th goal (Douvikas is second with 11).
BUNDESLIGA
100
Bayern Munich has scored 100 Bundesliga goals this season, just one behind the league’s all-time record (Bayern in 1971/72) with six matches remaining.
23
Bayern has netted 23 goals in the 80th minute or later in the Bundesliga this season, the highest in that timeframe among Europe’s top five leagues (Lille is second with 16 such goals).
4
Bayern’s comeback in injury time was only the fourth instance in Bundesliga history where a team has come back to win after trailing in second-half stoppage time.
LIGUE 1
6
Folarin Balogun’s six-game scoring streak is currently the longest active streak by any player in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. Only Kylian Mbappé (8) has had a longer scoring streak overall in Europe’s Top 5 leagues this season.
10
Ousmane Dembélé scored his tenth goal in Ligue 1 this season, tying Bradley Barcola (10) for the most league goals among PSG players this season.
7
Gonçalo Ramos netted his seventh goal off the bench this season across all competitions, the highest among players in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues.
EREDIVISIE
29
PSV became champions on April 5-in Matchday 29-marking the earliest title win in the history of the Eredivisie in terms of the calendar date (surpassing PSV’s previous record of April 8, 1978), as well as the fastest Eredivisie title win in terms of the number of matches played since Feyenoord in 1998/99 (who also clinched the title on Matchday 29).
27
PSV has secured the Dutch championship for the 27th time, for the 24th time since the inception of the Eredivisie in 1956/57, and for the twelfth time this century, more frequently than any other team since 2001 (Ajax: 9).
WOMEN’S FA CUP
3
Brighton eliminated 14-time Women’s FA Cup champion Arsenal in the quarterfinals. This marks Brighton’s third semifinal appearance in their history (1976, 2021). It is Arsenal’s second consecutive year being ousted at this stage (they have not reached the semifinals since 2021-22).
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a goal-filled weekend, with each finding the net for Inter Miami and Al Nassr respectively.
2/55 and 902
Lionel Messi scored his 55th career goal in the MLS regular season (in 58 matches). His latest goal was only his second header (the first was in March 2024 against Orlando City). It marked his 902nd career goal.
4
Messi scored for the fourth consecutive game in MLS, his longest regular-season streak since a six-game run from May to July 2025.
967
Cristiano Ronaldo netted a brace in his first match back after recovering from a hamstring injury, bringing his career total to 967 goals with club and country.
Information from ESPN’s Global Sports Research contributed to this report.
