Stat, Viz, Quiz 137: Lamine Yamal Keeps Being Amazing

The Barça superstar fired three goals in their 4-1 win over Villarreal at Camp Nou on Saturday, making him the youngest player to score a hat-trick in La Liga this century. In this week’s SVQ, we’ll look at other teenagers to have claimed a match ball.

In the Premier League, there were plenty of goals on Matchday 28, with five of them coming at St. James’ Park as Everton beat Newcastle United. It was the latest impressive away showing from David Moyes’ side, and we’ll also dive into their form on the road.

Our quiz this week includes a question on your favourite topic and ours, corner kicks, while our Ask Opta question looks at a unique phenomenon that occurred on Sunday in the Premier League.

It’s not exactly a revelatory to say Lamine Yamal is a very good footballer.

In fact, despite him being just 18 years and 230 days old at the time of Saturday’s game between Barcelona and Villarreal, Yamal feels like he’s been around for ages. It was therefore probably a surprise to many that his hat-trick in was the first of his La Liga career.

Yamal was electric against the Yellow Submarine, scoring Barça’s first three goals in their 4-1 win, with Robert Lewandowski capping it off in stoppage time at Camp Nou. The Spain youngster’s second goal in particular was a thing of beauty, cutting in off the right past several defenders before bending a fierce shot into the top-left corner of the net.

To add to the many accolades Yamal has already racked up despite barely being old enough to celebrate them with a beer (he probably didn’t, though), he became the youngest player this century to score a hat-trick in La Liga.

Another former Barcelona prodigy, Giovani dos Santos, scored his first at just 19 years and six days old back in May 2008 against Murcia, while Santi Mina was 19 years and 125 days old when he bagged a treble in the Spanish top flight for Celta Vigo against Rayo Vallecano in April 2015 – in fact, he actually scored four that day.

That therefore makes Yamal the only player under the age of 19 to score a hat-trick in La Liga since the turn of the century.

When expanded to the rest of Europe’s top five leagues in that time, though, he has some company.

In the Premier League, the only player to score three times in a game before turning 19 this century is Evan Ferguson, who did so for Brighton against Newcastle aged just 18 years and 318 days in September 2023.

There is also only one player in that time to have done so in Serie A, Francesco Grandolfo for Bari against Bologna in May 2011.

There have been three examples in Ligue 1, two of whom are very familiar names. Ousmane Dembélé scored three times for Rennes against Nantes in March 2016 aged 18 years and 286 days, while Kylian Mbappé recorded his first treble for Monaco against Metz just 53 days after his 18th birthday.

The one and only player this century to have scored a hat-trick in one of Europe’s top five leagues before even turning 18 is Jérémy Ménez, who incredibly claimed his first treble at the age of just 17 years and 260 days for Sochaux against Bordeaux in Ligue 1.

As for Yamal, he now has 13 goals in La Liga this season, making him Barcelona’s top scorer in the league, and only sitting behind Mbappé for Real Madrid (23 goals) and Mallorca’s Vedat Muriqi (16) in the ‘Pichichi’ standings.

It was his first hat-trick, but it would be genuinely astonishing if it turns out to be his only one.

Everton have not had the best of starts to life at Hill Dickinson Stadium. After saying goodbye to Goodison Park and moving across Liverpool into the new ground with a capacity of almost 53,000 last summer, there have been some teething problems for the Toffees.

David Moyes’ men have won just four of their 14 home games in the Premier League this season (D4 L6), with only six teams having worse home records in 2025-26.

It’s a good job, then, that they’ve been brilliant on the road.

Saturday’s 3-2 victory at Newcastle United was Everton’s seventh away win in the league this season. Only Arsenal (29) have won more away points than Moyes’ side (24) this term (Man City also 24).

Everton have won eight more points away from home than they have in their new ground (16), which is why they remain very much in the race for the European spots after Saturday’s impressive showing at St. James’ Park.

Only Tottenham (66%) have won a greater percentage of their points in away games in the Premier League this season than Everton (60%), and frankly, that’s mostly because Spurs’ home form has been so terrible.

A big key to Everton’s away form has been their defensive solidity. Only Arsenal (13) have conceded fewer away Premier League goals than their 14 in 2025-26.

It has been a particular strength for Everton since Moyes returned in January 2025. Since his first away game back in charge, no team have won more Premier League away games than their 12.

Their next away game is at Arsenal on 14 March, which will be quite the test of their mettle, but there’s no reason for Everton not to feel confident travelling anywhere right now. The Toffees are quite sticky opposition for anyone (no-one’s done that pun before, right?).

1. In their seven-goal thriller against Brentford, Burnley lost a Premier League game having scored 3+ goals for just the second time, also doing so in November 2009 against which London-based opponent (5-3)?

2. All three of Liverpool's first-half goals against West Ham on Saturday came from corners. It was the first time they’ve scored three goals from corners in a Premier League match since August 2022 against which opponent in a game the Reds won 9-0?

3. Antoine Semenyo became just the second player to score at Elland Road for two different teams in a single Premier League season after which former Leeds United and Tottenham player in 2002-03?

4. Michael Carrick has earned 23 points in nine Premier League games as Manchester United manager (W7 D2 – including both spells). It is the joint-best start after nine games by any manager in the competition’s history, alongside which former Spurs boss?

5. Sunday’s victory over Chelsea was the ninth time in the Premier League this season that Arsenal have scored a match-winning goal from a corner, now the outright most by a team in a single campaign in the competition’s history. Which team’s record from 2012-13 did they break?

Scroll to the bottom for the answers.

Our question this week comes from Juan Luciano, who asks: “I couldn’t help but notice that all four Premier League matches on Sunday ended with the exact same scoreline: 2-1 to the home side. This struck me as very rare – all the games on one day ending with the same score line – especially on a day with four games. Has this ever happened before?”

Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at [email protected] or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.

Answer:

No, Juan; in the English top flight, it had never happened before that every game finished with the same scoreline, or at least not on a day when there were at least four games played.

It therefore meant history was made on Sunday after Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-1, Brighton beat Nottingham Forest 2-1, Fulham beat Tottenham 2-1, and yes, Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1.

However, that’s only in terms of exclusive results. In English top-fight history, there have been more examples of the same score occurring several times.

The most identical scores on a single day is seven, and it has happened three times, all in the old First Division. First on 17 December 1921, when seven out of 11 games finished 2-1, then on 13 September 1947, seven of 11 games finished 1-0. Most recently, on 10 September 1966, seven of 11 games ended 1-1.

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Here's some of the latest data-driven offerings you can find on our website:

1. In their seven-goal thriller against Brentford, Burnley lost a Premier League game having scored 3+ goals for just the second time, also doing so in November 2009 against which London-based opponent (5-3)?

West Ham

2. All three of Liverpool's first-half goals against West Ham on Saturday came from corners. It was the first time they’ve scored three goals from corners in a Premier League match since August 2022 against which opponent in a game the Reds won 9-0?

Bournemouth

3. Antoine Semenyo became just the second player to score at Elland Road for two different teams in a single Premier League season after which former Leeds United and Tottenham player in 2002-03?

Robbie Keane

4. Michael Carrick has earned 23 points in nine Premier League games as Manchester United manager (W7 D2 – including both spells). It is the joint-best start after nine games by any manager in the competition’s history, alongside which former Spurs boss?

Ange Postecoglou

5. Sunday’s victory over Chelsea was the ninth time in the Premier League this season that Arsenal have scored a match-winning goal from a corner, now the outright most by a team in a single campaign in the competition’s history. Which team’s record from 2012-13 did they break?

Manchester United (8)

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Opta Analyst