IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - UEFA
Picture : Ángel Di María became the oldest player (35 years 9 days) to score a Europa League hat-trick since Zlatan Ibrahimovic did it for Manchester United vs St Etienne in February 2017 at 35 years 136 days.
Statistics on Europa League knock-out round games (23 February)
*Barcelona, after 1-2 loss vs Manchester United, will enter the month of March eliminated from all European competitions, something that had not happened for 24 years (in the 1998-99 season they received the European knock-out in December).
*Barça have been eliminated from European competitions 4 times in just 1 year 77 days (twice in Champions League, twice in Europa League).
*While in their national league Barcelona have shown excellent defense (17 clean sheets in 22 matches), their European campaign has been deplorable in this sense (0 in 8).
*Permanent degradation of Barcelona in Europe continues for 5 seasons:
2018/19 – Champions League semi-finals
2019/20 – Champions League quarter-finals
2020/21 – Champions League round of 16
2021/22 – Champions League group + Europa League quarter-finals
2022/23 – Champions League group + Europa League knock-out round
*Before this defeat at Old Trafford, Barcelona didn’t lose in 37 consecutive games in which they won 1st half-time.
The last team to beat them after losing 1st half-time was Granada in April 2021.
*A small consolation for Barça: Robert Lewandowski has reached 25 goal mark (in all competitions) for club this season. It is his 12th successive season with 25+ club goals.
*Manchester United have prolonged their unbeaten home series to 18 matches in all competitions (16 wins, 2 draws).
*Manchester United have already 19 goals scored by substitutes in 2022-23 season, the most of any team from big 5 European leagues. Their subs have scored in 15 matches in all competitions.
*Ángel di María (Juventus) scoring 3 goals vs Nantes (3-0), has achieved the third hat-trick of his professional career (also 1 for Benfica in 2010 and 1 for PSG in 2018).
*Ángel Di Maria is the 4th player to score an away hat-trick for Juventus in Europe after Adriano Novellini in 1970/71 (vs Rumelange), Paolo Rossi in 1984/85 (vs Tampere) and Filippo Inzaghi in 1997/98 (vs Dynamo Kyiv) and 2000/01 (vs Hamburg).
*Ángel Di María shoot 7 times on target in this game, the most of any player in a single Europa League game since the competition was rebranded in 2009.