There's Lionel Messi, and then there's the rest. The weekend's football in Europe seemed to suggest so, although one must put this helpful caveat: Juventus gave Cristiano Ronaldo the weekend off.

Here are the best numbers from the weekend:

33

Lionel Messi scored his 33rd La Liga hat-trick in the course of Barcelona's 4-1 win away to Real Betis, also his 45th hat-trick for Barcelona across all competitions. He also has six hat-tricks for the Argentina national team, taking his overall tally in competitive...

While Liverpool kept pace with Manchester City, Arsenal beat Manchester United to keep the top four race alive. In La Liga, Barcelona continued their dominance, while Kareem Benzema helped Real Madrid get back to winning ways after their humiliating Champions League defeat. Elsewhere, Juventus remained unbeaten in the league, while Bayern Munich scored six against Wolfsburg to leapfrog Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga. Here are the best numbers from the weekend's action.

0

Juventus are still...

It was a weekend of derbies and fierce cross-country rivalries. The North-London derby was feisty, controversial and ended 1-1, the Merseyside one was tamer and ended 0-0, while the Rome edition saw Lazio absolutely smash Roma 3-0. Across in Spain, the Clasico saw Barcelona run out 1-0 winners at Real Madrid, while in a brilliantly-manic edition of the great Italian north-south rivalry, Juventus clung onto a 2-1 win at Napoli.

Here are the best stats from the weekend action:

4

This is the first...

The transfer window for Europe's biggest clubs is closed, but click here for all the deals and keep track of who has joined the big boys. Transfer Talk will continue to scour the world's media and set correspondents loose to see what's on the agenda for the summer.

TOP STORY: Arsenal eye move for Wan-Bissaka

Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has had quite an impressive rise of late. Nobody had heard too much of the 21-year-old a year ago, but now he's a mainstay in the Palace team, worth...

This weekend, the venerable Roy Hodgson will become the oldest manager to ever take charge of a Premier League match when he steps into the away dugout for Crystal Palace's trip to Leicester City.

Hodgson will be aged 71 years and 198 days come kick-off on Saturday, thus making him one day older than previous record-holder Sir Bobby Robson was when he took charge of Newcastle United against Aston Villa in 2004 (before being sacked two days later).

By a quirk of fate, Palace also boast the Premier...

What a weekend of football.

Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to get substituted as Maurizio Sarri absolutely lost his plot on the touchline (as would be expected of anyone in his situation) and Chelsea went on to lose 3-4 on penalties to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool and Manchester United hobbled their way to an uninspiring 0-0 draw, meaning the Merseysiders now lead City by a point atop the Premier League. Arsenal beat Southampton 2-0 to climb a point over United and into fourth....