Here are 38 of the best stats, facts and pieces of trivia about Lionel Messi — on his 38th birthday: ⚽️Most goals in a year... ever 🏆A trophy every 22 club games ☀️Scored more goals for Barcelona than votes Bush beat Gore by in Florida in 2000 election nytimes.com/athletic/64398…

Players dismissed for 99 & 0 in the same Test match: Pankaj Roy for India v Australia in 1959 Mushtaq Mohammad for Pakistan v England in 1973 Misbah-ul-Haq for Pakistan v West Indies in 2017 Babar Azam for Pakistan v Australia in 2018 Harry Brook for England v India in 2025

Seven centuries scored in a Test match in England: England v Australia at Trent Bridge in 1938: England: Barnett, Hutton, Paynter & Compton Australia: McCabe, Brown & Bradman England v India at Headingley in 2025: England: Pope & Duckett India: Jaiswal, Gill, Pant x2 & Rahul

The Club World Cup has been criticised — among other things — for sparse attendances at some games. But have they really been that bad? Will Jeanes lays out the facts.

#OTD in 1982, Paolo Rossi scored a hat-trick for Italy vs Brazil in the World Cup second group stage. It is one of two World Cup hat-tricks scored vs Brazil (also Ernst Wilimowski for Poland in 1938) and the only time a Golden Ball winner has scored a hat-trick at the tournament.

India's first Test win against England at: The Oval: 1971 Lord's: 1986 Headingley: 1986 Trent Bridge: 2007 Edgbaston: 2025 🏏

Players to score 8+ Test centuries at a specific ground: Mahela Jayawardene (🇱🇰): 11 at Colombo (SSC) Don Bradman (🇦🇺): 9 at Melbourne Cricket Ground Jacques Kallis (🇿🇦): 9 at Newlands Kumar Sangakkara (🇱🇰): 8 at Colombo (SSC) Joe Root (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿): 8 at Lord's 🆕 #ENGvIND 🏏

Most Test centuries against India: Joe Root (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿): 11 🆕 Steve Smith (🇦🇺): 11 Ricky Ponting (🇦🇺): 8 Viv Richards (🌴): 8 Garfield Sobers (🌴): 8 #ENGvIND 🏏

Joe Root has now scored 13 Test centuries against India. Only Australia’s Don Bradman (19 vs England) has scored more against a specific opponent in the history of Test cricket. #ENGvIND 🏏

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the world’s longest-running sports book, has been published every year since 1864; through war, disease, societal upheaval and several enforced cancellations of cricket itself. The almanack has always been compiled and published in England, the

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack — the world’s longest-running sports book — has been published every year from 1864; through war, disease & several enforced cancellations of cricket itself. Here's my look at its place in the sporting & collectibles' worlds: nytimes.com/athletic/64974…

Delighted to have rediscovered this superb piece of royal/cricketing trivia:

National trophies Crystal Palace won in the first 43,714 days of their existence: One National trophies Crystal Palace have won in the last 86 days: Two

The 2025-26 Premier League is the first men’s top-flight season in English football without either Goodison Park or Highbury since 1891-92.

My look at the numbers and history behind Arsenal’s record 100 seasons in a row in the English top flight — and how it compares to other clubs: nytimes.com/athletic/65464…

This is Arsenal's 100th season in a row in the top flight, but how do the other current Premier League clubs compare? Is it the longest run in England's elite tier in history? And have the London side played the most top-division campaigns in total? Will Jeanes dives into the

Cristiano Ronaldo’s first spell at Manchester United: 84 goals in 196 Premier League games Erling Haaland at Manchester City: 86 goals in 98 Premier League games

There have been more 0-0s in the first eight games of this Premier League season than there were in the first 47 games of last season (2 & 1).