Staţ

The papers in Spain were all about stats this week.

Víctor Valdés beat Miguel Reina’s clean sheet record of 824 minutes against Plzen.

Leo Messi beat the 200 goals mark in official matches for Barcelona with his hat-trick in the same game. (202)

And Pep Guardiola managed his Dream Boys in a competitive match for the 200th time.
In that spell, the Barça boss has overseen 144 wins, 39 draws, and 17 defeats (and, subsequently, 17 crises) with 500 goals scored and 143 conceded.

And in a stats clash cross over, the club’s Argentinean striker has scored 160 of that 500. Which is about a half, or maybe a third. Who knows. Someone else work it out.

Mourinho has 100 european games coached.
Ronaldo has 101 goals scored for Real Madrid

Jinx

 

The CWC Jinx

No club ever managed to defend the Cup Winners' Cup, although the holders reached the next final on no fewer than 8 occasions - and the teams that failed include some of the most prestigious of the continent, as the following list shows:

Fiorentina:       winners in 1960/61, lost 1961/62 final to Atlético Madrid;
Atlético Madrid:  winners in 1961/62, lost 1962/63 final to Tottenham Hotspur;
Milan:            winners in 1972/73, lost 1973/74 final to 1.FC Magdeburg;
Anderlecht:       winners in 1975/76, lost 1976/77 final to Hamburger SV;
Ajax:             winners in 1986/87, lost 1987/88 final to KV Mechelen;
Parma:            winners in 1992/93, lost 1993/94 final to Arsenal;
Arsenal:          winners in 1993/94, lost 1994/95 final to Real Zaragoza;
Paris St-Germain: winners in 1995/96, lost 1996/97 final to Barcelona.

Since the CWC was discontinued after the 1998/99 edition, the jinx will never be broken. In fact, it seems to have been transferred to the Champions League, where both Ajax and Milan again fell victim to it.

The Champions League Jinx

Since the traditional Champions' Cup was transformed into the Champions League, no winners have managed to defend their title, a situation reminiscent of the Cup Winners' Cup Jinx: no club ever managed to defend the Cup Winners' Cup. Since the 1991/92 season, when the Champions League was introduced, the holders have reached the final on 4 occasions but always ended up on the losing side:

Milan:            winners in 1993/94, lost 1994/95 final to Ajax;
Ajax:             winners in 1994/95, lost 1995/96 final to Juventus;
Juventus:         winners in 1995/96, lost 1996/97 final to Borussia Dortmund;
Manchester United:winners in 2007/08, lost 2008/09 final to Barcelona.

Milan and Ajax also reached the Cup Winners' Cup final once as holders, in which they faced rank outsiders (1.FC Magdeburg and KV Mechelen respectively), but failed to defend their trophy.