Mbappé wins the tug-of-war with Barça and now leads the Clásico record book with Madrid

Mbappé did it again at Camp Nou (well, Spotify Camp Nou) and ruined Barcelona's Sunday. But that wasn't the only major storyline from a weekend loaded with eye-catching numbers across Europe's top leagues.

Premier League: City stumbles, United can't get off the mat

Manchester City fell to Aston Villa, which with that win became the first team to beat City in three straight Premier League meetings since Liverpool did it in December 2016. Villa also strung together its fourth consecutive home league win, something not seen since Tottenham managed it in February 2023.

The real drama, though, remains Manchester United. The club has managed just seven points through eight matchdays (1 win, 4 draws, 3 losses), its worst league start since the 1986-87 season. To make matters worse, United lost comfortably to Bournemouth, who pulled off something nobody had managed since 2019-21: four straight unbeaten visits to Old Trafford, a run not seen since Liverpool's own stretch in that period. Bournemouth's Marcus Tavernier now has five goals or assists at that stadium as a visitor; among Englishmen, only Harry Kane and Steven Gerrard have more.

Arsenal and Liverpool, meanwhile, ground out tough results. Arsenal snapped a 13-match drought without scoring from a set piece (excluding penalties) by netting against Everton, while Liverpool won at Anfield with just 35.6 percent possession against Brighton, its second-lowest mark in a home win since records began in 2003-04, and the lowest since November 2010. Chelsea, meanwhile, lost to Tottenham and has now dropped more matches across all competitions than any other team among Europe's top five leagues since March: 14.

LaLiga: Mbappé's night

Sunday's Clásico belonged to Mbappé. The Frenchman scored a brace that handed Real Madrid Barcelona's first loss of the season, and in doing so, Madrid broke the historic tie in the head-to-head series: it now leads 107-106, with 52 draws. Madrid hadn't been ahead in that count since 2019.

Mbappé now has eight goals in seven Clásicos wearing the Real Madrid shirt, the best mark by a player in his first seven matches of this kind in the 21st century, surpassing Messi's six goals over the same span. He also became the fourth-fastest player to reach 100 goals for Real Madrid across all competitions, behind only Puskás, Cristiano Ronaldo and Di Stéfano. There's another curious stat too: with four goals in two visits to Camp Nou, no Madrid player had scored that much there since Benzema and Cristiano in 2013-14.

José Mourinho, for his part, remains unbeaten in his last five Clásicos as Madrid manager (3 wins, 2 draws). In history, only two coaches had gone six or more Clásicos without losing: Miguel Muñoz (seven wins in seven, between 1962 and 1965) and Vicente del Bosque (two wins and five draws between 2001 and 2003).

Away from the Clásico, Raphinha remains LaLiga's top scorer with 13 goals, the best tally by a player through his team's first ten matches since Cristiano scored 17 in 2014-15, also with Madrid. And in Madrid, but on the red and white side, Diego Simeone keeps piling up history: he now has 343 LaLiga wins, all with Atlético, just one shy of tying Luis Aragonés' record (344).

Serie A: four unbeaten teams, something never seen before

For the first time in Serie A history, four teams reached the first eight matchdays unbeaten: Inter (22 points), Lazio (22), Roma (18) and Milan (18). Milan itself, with five wins and three draws, had only started a season unbeaten like this in two of the last twenty campaigns (2020-21 and 2021-22).

On the individual side, Luka Modric keeps defying the calendar: after turning 40, the Croatian already has four assists, the best mark for a player of that age since Serie A returned to 20 teams in 2004-05, topping Zlatan Ibrahimovic's three. Scott McTominay, meanwhile, has 11 headed goals since arriving in Italian football in 2024-25, more than any other midfielder in that span (Casemiro and Tolisso each have 10).

Bundesliga: round numbers for Gnabry and Kramaric

Bayern Munich routed Freiburg and holds onto first place, while Borussia Dortmund, second in the table, also claimed all three points against Eintracht Frankfurt. In Bayern's match, Serge Gnabry reached his 100th goal for the club in his 267th Bundesliga appearance, joining a very small club of active players to hit that mark: only Andrej Kramaric (141) and his own teammate Harry Kane (102) had done it before.

Kramaric himself had a historic afternoon: he scored Hoffenheim's 1,000th Bundesliga goal and became the fifth player, since detailed records began in 2004-05, to reach 200 direct goal contributions (201, with 141 goals and 60 assists). And at Bayern, Michael Olise now has 13 matches with a goal and an assist combined since arriving in 2024, the best mark among Europe's top five leagues over that stretch.