REVIEW: Cristiano Ronaldo scores 17th career hat-trick

Football – On Sunday Cristiano Ronaldo netted three times in Real Madrid’s 5-1 victory over Deportivo La Coruna, to score his 17th career hat-trick and his first since 11 April 2012  when he scored 3 goals in Real’s 4-1 win at Atlético Madrid.

> Ronaldo scored 1 hat-trick playing for Manchester United and 16 representing Real Madrid.

> He is now on 15 hat-tricks in La Liga. He also scored one in the Copa del Rey and one in the Premier League.

> Levante UD, Málaga CF and Sevilla FC have all seen Ronaldo score two hat-tricks against them.

REVIEW: Scoring a hat-trick on league debut

Football – On Sunday, PSV’s Jürgen Locadia scored a hat-trick on his Eredivisie league debut. He became the first player in 43 years to achieve this feat in the Dutch top flight and the first since Harald Berg scored on his Eredivisie debut for ADO in 1969.

The last time this happened in the English Premier League was in August 1996 when Fabrizio Ravanelli scored 3 goals on his Premier League debut for Middlesbrough.

Below we listed some players who recently scored a hat-trick on their league debut.

Player (Nation) Club Date League

Jürgen Locadia (NED) PSV 30 Sep 2012 Eredivisie – Netherlands

Toscano (BRA) Vitória Guimarães 28 Aug 2010 Liga – Portugal

Martin Fenin (CZE) Eintracht Frankfurt 02 Feb 2008 Bundesliga – Germany

Antti Sumiala (FIN) IFK Norrköping 12 Aug 2002 Allsvenskan – Sweden

Danijel Milovanovic (SWE) Landskrona BoIS 06 Apr 2002 Allsvenskan – Sweden

Paul Kpaka (SLE) Germinal Beerschot 12 Aug 2001 Jupiler Pro League – Belgium

Adhemar (BRA) VfB Stuttgart 03 Feb 2001 Bundesliga – Germany

Pauleta (POR) Girondins Bordeaux 06 Sep 2000 Ligue 1 – France

Mogens Laursen (DEN) FC Midtjylland 23 Jul 2000 Super Ligaen Denmark

REVIEW: Barcelona come back again in Seville

FOOTBALL – For the first time in 15 years FC Barcelona came back from two goals behind in a La Liga match to win. And again the setting was Seville.

> Barcelona beat Sevilla FC on Saturday 2-3. In January 1997 they came back to against Real betis (2-4).

> FC Barcelona are on top of the La Liga table with 18 points from six matches.
>  Only once on those four previous occasions did Barça not manage to win La Liga: 1929/1930. They won the title in 1990/91, 1997/98 and 2009/10. 

REVIEW: Spurs end PL curse at Old Trafford

FOOTBALL – Tottenham Hotspur finally won their first ever Premier League match against Manchester United (2-3) at Old Trafford, thereby ending the PL curse that hanted them since its inception in 1992.

> Tottenham also ended a run of 22 PL matches home and away without a win against Manchester United, going back to 2001.
> Tottenham scored three goals in a league match at Old Trafford for the first time in 26 years – since a 3-3 draw in December 1986.
> Jan Vertonghen scored after two minutes – the fastest ever PL goal scored by the away team at Old Trafford.
> Clint Dempsey scored his first ever PL goal against Manchester United in his 11th PL match against them.
> Manchester United conceded the opening goal in a PL match for the fifth time in their six PL matches this season.
> Nani scored his fourth career PL goal against Tottenham – his outright most against another PL club.

REVIEW: Bayern must end winning streak

FOOTBALL – Bayern München beat Werder Bremen to extend their perfect season to six Bundesliga wins. They can equal the best start in BL history next week if they win their seventh BL match of the season. However, a seventh win could mean the end of their title dream.

> Three times a team has started the Bundesliga season with seven wins in their first seven matches, Bayern in 1995/96, 1.FC Kaiserslautern 2001/02 and FSV Mainz 2010/11.

> But in all these three seasons Borussia Dortmund won the league championship.

REVIEW: Rodriguez puts Spain on map of Lombardia

CYCLING – Joaquim Rodriguez became the first Spanish rider to win Il Lombardia since the first edition was held in 1905. His compatriot Samuel Sanchez finished second and  he is now closing in on an all-time record.

> Spain is the 11th country to have won Il Lombardia. Italy (67), Belgium (12) and France (11) lead the list with most wins.

> Sanchez came in second for the third time in this race. Only the legendary Gino Bartali finished runner up more often: four times.

REVIEW: Chelsea clinch 92nd London derby win

FOOTBALL – Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium to clinch their 92nd win in a London derby match in the Premier League. Only one club has more London derby wins.

> Arsenal have won 93 PL derby matches in London.

> This was Chelsea’s third PL win at their rivals’ Emirates Stadium. Manchester United (2) and Aston Villa (2) are the only other clubs to have won two PL matches at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

> Fernando Torres scored his 150th top flight goal and his 75th in the PL. he has also scored 75 goals in La Liga.

> Juan Mata netted the winner. This was his 7th PL goal and the first outside Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium.

REVIEW: USA up by more than a point after Day 1

GOLF – After one day of action at the 2012 Ryder Cup, hosts United States have built a 5-3 lead on their visitors from Europe. A deficit by more than one point after one day has been turned into a victory on five occasions in Ryder Cup history. In 1995, Europe trailed by a similar margin on Friday, only to claim the tie by 14.5-13.5 on Sunday. 

Ryder Cups won by team trailing by more than a point after Day 1

1999 – USA won 14.5-13.5 after trailing 6.0-2.0 after Day 1

1995 – EUR won 14.5-13.5 after trailing 5.0-3.0 after Day 1

1973 – USA won 19.0-13.0 after trailing 5.5-2.5 after Day 1

1957 – GBR won 7.5-4.5 after trailing 3.0-1.0 after Day 1

1949 – USA won 7.0-5.0 after trailing 3.0-1.0 after Day 1

REVIEW: Fortuna Düsseldorf concede after 463 minutes

FOOTBALL – Fortuna Düsseldorf became the last team to concede a goal in the 2012/2013 Bundesliga season, after keeping the opposition out for the first five matches in full and the first 13 minutes of their sixth match. Theirs was the second longest run from the start of the season in Bundesliga history.

Most minutes into Bundesliga season before conceding first goal

780 – VfB Stuttgart (2003/2004)

463 – Fortuna Düsseldorf (2012/2013)

429 – Werder Bremen (1987/1988)

429 – 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1997/1998)

383 – Borussia Dortmund (2001/2002)

PREVIEW: Premier League Matchday 6

FOOTBALL – The following are some key facts and figures on a selected assortment of matches in the Premier League this weekend. The matches we have looked into are Arsenal – Chelsea and Manchester United – Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal – Chelsea

> This will be the 151^st league meeting between the two teams – Arsenal have won 61, Chelsea 44, with 45 draws.

> Chelsea have picked up eight PL points at the Emirates Stadium, the equal-most for an away team alongside Aston Villa. If they win they can become the first away team to win three PL matches at the stadium.

>  Arsène Wenger is one short of his milestone 350^th PL win as Arsenal manager. Only Sir Alex Ferguson (504) has won more PL matches as a manager in the division.

> Frank Lampard has played in 29 PL matches against Arsenal, more than he has faced any another team. Only David James (30), and Ryan Giggs (34) have made more PL appearances against Arsenal.

> Fernando Torres (74) is one short of becoming the first Spaniard to score 75 PL goals.

Manchester United – Tottenham Hotspur

> Alex Ferguson has won 20 of 26 home league matches against Tottenham – his only defeat coming in December 1989.

> Manchester United have scored in each of their last 51 PL home matches, since the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa in December 2009. They are the first ever PL club to score in 50 or more successive home matches. It is the 11^th time this feat has been achieved in the top flight and first since today’s opponents Tottenham (53 matches) from 1960-62.

> Robin van Persie is set to make his 200^th PL appearance. He has scored 101 PL goals in the division.

> Tottenham have lost their last four PL visits to the city of Manchester, conceding three in each of their matches there last season. The only win seven visits was 1-0 at Manchester City in May 2010.

> Spurs are looking to win three PL matches in a row for the first time in 11 months, since a six-match streak from Oct to Nov 2011.