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On December 20, 2020, AC Milan striker Rafael Leao scored a goal in the first minute of the game in their 2-1 victory away against Sassuolo. In case you are wondering why that is special, it was the fastest goal in Serie A history.

Leao took just 6.2 seconds to find the back of the net, scoring the fastest goal in Serie A history. He had shaved nearly two seconds off the previous record, held by Paolo Poggi of Piacenza when he scored against Fiorentina in 2001. Leao's goal, in fact, is the first goal in Europe's top five leagues (English Premier League, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga) to be scored inside seven seconds. Naturally then, it is the fastest goal ever in Europe's top five leagues.

The fastest goal in the Spanish La Liga was scored by Joseba Llorente >> Playing then for Real Valladolid, Llorente took only 7.22 seconds to score against Espanyol in 2008.

The record for the fastest goal scored in the English Premier League now belongs to Shane Long Southampton striker Long needed only 7.69 seconds to score a goal against Watford in 2019.

In the French Ligue 1, the record for the fastest goal is held by Michel Rio.

The record dates back to 1992 when Caen midfielder Rio scored against Cannes in 7.9 seconds.

The record for the fastest goal scored in the German Bundesliga is held jointly by Karim Bellarabi and Kevin Volland.

While Bellarabi scored in just nine seconds on the opening day of the 2014-15 season for Bayer Leverkusen against Borussia Dortmund, Volland took the same time to score for Hoffenheim against Bayern Munich in 2015.

On January 3, 2021, Leao scored the second goal in AC Milan's 2-0 away win against Benevento. With that goal, Leao became the second youngest foreign player (21 years and 207 days) to score 10 or more goals with AC Milan in Serie A. Only Brazilian footballer Alexandre Pato achieved the landmark quicker. He was 19 years and 19 days old when he scored his 10th AC Milan goal in the Serie A.

 

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Accusations of racism meant that Paris Saint-Germain's final Champions’ League group game against Istanbul Basaksehir was played over two days, December 8-9, 2020.

Knowing they had already qualified when the match continued on December 9, PSG went on to thrash Istanbul 5-1 as Neymar scored a hat-trick and Kylian Mbappe added a brace. Those two goals made Mbappe the youngest in the competition to reach 20 goals.

With a penalty in the 42nd minute of the game, Mbappe took his tally of Champions League goals to 20. He added another in the 62nd minute and now has 21 goals in the competition. Having announced his arrival on the big stage as a teenager, Mbappe continues to create records.

1. Kylian Mbappe

Mbappe was 21 years and 355 days old when he scored his 20th and 21st goals in the competition. After scoring six goals in the 2016-17 season with Monaco, Mbappe switched to PSG. He also starred for France when they won the World Cup in 2018.

2. Lionel Messi

Messi was 22 years ne notched up his 20th and 266 days old when goal in the 2009-10 edition of the Champions League. He totally has 126 goals so far.

3. Raul

Raul was 22 years and 297 days old when we reached the 20 Champions League goals mark.

4. Alessandro del Piero

del Piero was 23 years and 157 days old when he went past the 20 Champions League goals landmark.

5. Karim Benzema

Benzema reached the 20 Champions League goals milestone when he was 23 years and 282 days old.

 

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On December 8, 2020, Borussia Dortmund's Youssouffa Moukaka came on as a substitute in their Champions League game against Zenit Saint Petersburg. With that he broke Celestine Babayaro's 26-year-old record for being the youngest player in the history of UEFA Champions League.

Cameroon-born German footballer Youssoufa Moukoko was born almost 10 years (just three days short, to be exact) after Celestine Babayaro set the record in 1994 for being the youngest to play in the Champions League. Born on November 20 2004, Moukoko joined Borussia Dortmund in 2016 and played for their U17s (under-17s) team aged 13 and for their U19s a year later. He started training with Dortmund's first team as a 15-year-old from January 2020 and made his first appearance in the Bundesliga a day after his 16th birthday, coming on as a substitute against Hertha. A little over half a month later, Moukoko has become the youngest player ever to play in the UEFA Champions League.

1. Youssoufa Moukoko 16 years 18 days

After sitting on the bench for Dortmund for two Champions League games, Moukoko made his European debut on December 8, 2020 in a 2-1 win against Zenit.

2. Celestine Babayaro 16 years 87 days

For more than 26 years, the record for being the youngest to appear in Champions League was held by Babayaro. The Nigerian defender achieved the feat on November 23, 1994 when he started for Anderlecht at Steaua in a 1-1 group stage draw. His debut had one more record in it as well, as he became the youngest in the competition to be sent off. 37 minutes into the game.

3. Rayan Cherki 16 years 102 days

Still with Lyon, Cherki made his Champions League debut as a substitute in a 2-0 loss against Zenit on November 27, 2019. Cherki could have broken Babayaro's record three weeks before this game, but he was an unused substitute in that match.

4. Alen Halilovic T16 years 128 days

Now with Birmingham after moving through a number of dubs, Halilovic made his Champions League debut as a substitute in Dinamo Zagreb's 0-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain on October 24, 2012.

5. Youri Tielemans 5 16 years 148 days

Now playing for Premier League side Leicester City, Tielemans made his Champions League debut for Anderlecht during their 0-3 defeat to Olympiacos on October 2, 2013.

 

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On December 9, 2020, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema scored twice in their 2-0 Champions League group stage game victory over Borussia Monchengladbach. With the first of those two goals, Benzema became only the third* person to score 50 or more goals in the group stages of Champions League.

With only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo above him in terms of number of group stage goals scored in the competition, Benzema surely is in some elite company.

Lionel Messi leads the list with 71 Champions League group stage goals, all of which were for Barcelona. The 71 goals have come in just 75 games, giving him a phenomenal goals per game ratio of 0.95!

It is no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo is next on this list, with 67 Champions League group stage goals in 93 games so far. His goals, which have come at the rate of 0.72 goals per game, were for three sides - Manchester United, Real Madrid and now Juventus.

Benzema became just the third footballer to notch up 50 or more Champions League group stage goals when he scored his 50th and 51st in the game against Monchengladbach His 51 goals have come in 73 games, played for Lyon and now Real Madrid. Benzema has a goals per game ratio of 0.70 at this stage of the competition.

Statistics do not include goals and appearances from the second group stage that the Champions League had from 1999-2000 to 2002-03. If we were to include goals in that as well, Raul (53) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (50) also have 50 or more group stage goals. Raul and van Nistelrooy's tallies, however, drop down to 37 and 39 respectively, if their goals in the second group stage aren't included.

Benzema scored with two near identical headers to bring up his 50th and 51st goals in the group stages of the Champions League.

Apart from the fact that the two goals put Benzema in elite company, it also gave Real Madrid a crucial victory that not only allowed them to progress to the knock-out stages of the competition this time, but also top their group. Record 13-time champions Madrid had started the night in third place in their group, with the risk of failing to qualify from the group stage for the first time in their history.

 

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On December 2, 2020, in the third and final ODI between India and Australia that was played at Canberra, Australia, India’s skipper Virat Kohli became just the sixth player to amass more than 12,000 runs in the ODI format.

He joined the elite group of players in style, as he is the fastest to the milestone, reaching it in his 251st match, while playing his 242nd innings.

Among cricketers who have scored 12,000 or more runs in the ODI format, Kohli is the only active player.

Virat kohli reached the 12,000 run mark in his 251st ODI, when he came out to bat for the 242nd time. He scored 63 off 78 balls, in an innings that included five fours, India won the match against Australia at Canberra on December 2, 2020 by 13 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar was the first to reach the 12,000 run mark in the ODI format. He did it in his 309th ODI, while batting for the 300th time.

Ricky Ponting achieved the 12,000 run milestone in his 314th innings, when playing his 323rd match. He scored an unbeaten 111against England at Centurion, South Africa on October 2, 2009 as Australia reached the ICC Champions Trophy final with a nine wicket win.

Kumar Sangakkara went past the 12,000 mark in his 395th ODI, playing his 336th innings Sangakkara scored a 67-ball 58 as Sri Lanka, defeated Pakistan by two wickets at Dubai, UAE on December 20, 2013.

Sanath Jayasuriya notched up the 12,000 mark when batting for the 379th time in his 390th match. It came in the 2007 ODI World Cup final against Australia at Bridgetown, Barbados on April 28, 2007. Jayasuriya scored 63 from 67 deliveries, but Sri Lanka lost the final by 53 runs, according to Duckworth-Lewis method.

 

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