IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS AND STATS - UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
Picture : Michael Olise is the first French national team player to score from a direct free kick since Paul Pogba in March 2018 .
Statistics on Nations League quarter-finals of 23 March
Spain vs Netherlands 3-3 (pen. 5-4)
*Netherlands have scored 3+ equalisers within one game for the fourth time, after March 1939 (3 vs Belgium), October 1950 (3 vs Switzerland)
and November 1951 (4 vs Belgium).
*Spain is the first team to qualify for 3 Nations League finals (three in a row).
*Netherlands have now lost 7 of 9 shootouts they ever had in all competitions.
*Spain have conceded only their 2nd ever goal in extra time in all competitions (the first was Dragan Stojković's vs Yugoslavia at 1990 World Cup).
*Spain conceded 2 penalties in a game (excluding shootouts) for the 2nd time in their history (the first was against the Republic of Ireland in the 2002 World Cup.
*Spain last conceded 2+ goals in 3 consecutive matches (vs Switzerland, twice vs Netherlands) 16 years ago.
*For the first time since 9 November 2017, Netherlands started a match without a player from Eredivisie.
*Ian Maatsen is the second player ever to make his debut for “Oranje” after having played a ChampionsLeague final; the first such player was Edwin van der Sar in 1995.
*Ian Maatsen is the third scoring debutant for “Oranje” while playing for a non-Dutch club, after Jan Mulder in 1967 (for Anderlecht) and Willy Lippens in 1971 (for Rot-Weiss Essen).
*Memphis Depay has scored his 8th equaliser for Netherlands. Only Abe Lenstra has scored more (10).
*Depay (47 goals) has now moved within 3 goals of Robin van Persie's all-time scoring record for the Netherlands (50).
*No player has been involved in more goals for Spain than Lamine Yamal under Luis de la Fuente (4 goals and 8 assists).
*Mikel Oyarzabal is now Spain's top scorer under with Luis de la Fuente (8 goals), ahead of Álvaro Morata (7), Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo and Joselu (6 each).
France vs Croatia 2-0 (pen. 5-4)
*Kylian Mbappé hasn't scored in his last 7 matches for France (excluding penalty shootouts): his longest goal drought in the career.
*Michael Olise is the first French national team player to score from a direct free kick since Paul Pogba (in March 2018 against Russia), and the first in a competitive match since Jérôme Rothen (against the Faroe Islands in October 2007, Euro qualifiers).
He is also the first player to score his first career goal with Les Bleus from a direct free kick since just mentioned Jérôme Rothen.
*Olise became the third France’s player to score from a direct free kick at the Stade de France, after Emmanuel Petit (against Russia on 5 June 1999) and Dimitri Payet (also against Russia on 29 March 2016).
*Désiré Doué became the first player:
to take part in a penalty shootout with Les Bleus before the age of 20,
to take part in a penalty shootout on his debut with Les Bleus.
*Mike Maignan became the first goalkeeper in France history to win 2 penalty shootouts in official competition.
*France's record in penalty shootouts in the quarter-finals in official competition is now 5 wins of 5 occasions (while their record at all other stages outside the quarter-finals is 0 wins of 5).
Germany vs Italy 3-3
*This is the 3rd match in which Germany went into halftime with a 3+ goal lead and did not win, after:
vs Hungary in 1912 (4-1 at halftime, 4-4 at the end),
vs Sweden in 2012 (3-0 at halftime, 4-4 at the end).
*Italy have drawn a match after trailing by 3+ goals for the first time in their history.
*Italy last conceded 3+ goals in a first half on 21 June 2009 against Brazil in the Confederations Cup (0-3 also in that case).
*Daniel Maldini has started his first match for Italy, 22 years and 278 days after his father Paolo's last match with the Azzurri (on 18 June 2002 vs South Korea) and 61 years 162 days after his grandfather Cesare's last match (on 13 October 1963 vs USSR).
*Joshua Kimmich was directly involved in 3 goals inside same match of Germany (1 goal, 2 assists) for the second time having previously achieved this in June 2017 against San Marino.
He has been directly involved in each of Germany's last 5 goals (1 goal, 4 assists).
Portugal vs Denmark 5-2
*Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in history to score in 22 consecutive years for the senior national team.
*Gonçalo Ramos has scored 9 goals for Portugal in 15 matches. Only two players in the team’s history have scored more in their first 15 appearances: Eusébio (10) and Peyroteo (11).