Luke Montebello reaches 200 MPL appearances milestone

2023/24 BOV Premier League Match Day 9 Statistics

1 – Birkirkara’s emphatic 3-0 victory over champions Hamrun Spartans arrived a little more than one year, one year and six days to be exact, since the Spartans were lastly beaten in the Premier Division. On 27 November 2022, Hamrun lost 4-2 against the Zebbug Rangers in a match which started on 12 November but was abandoned at half-time due to heavy rainfall. The unbeaten sequence remained for 23 consecutive games, in which the Spartans recorded 19 wins and 4 draws. These series of unbeaten matches will be ranked amongst the top 10 in top flight history. Hamrun’s club record remains the sequence between 2 February 1986 and 10 January 1988, in which they remained unbeaten in 29 consecutive games. The national record is shared between Hibernians and Valletta with 37 consecutive unbeaten first tier league matches. The one of Hibernians was established between 27 April 1980 and 16 January 1983, while Valletta equalled this national record between 10 April 2010 and 18 September 2011. Both clubs recorded 27 wins and 10 draws during these two impressive sequences.

1 – On Sunday morning, 27-year-old midfielder Ryan Cutajar made his Premier League debut with Gudja United against Naxxar Lions (1-2). Cutajar replaced Gianluca Lorenzoni in the 84^th minute, crowning a wonderful football journey which started with his apprentice club Mellieha, making his senior debut with the Blues in the 2^nd Division in 2012. During that same year, he represented Malta during an international Under-17 tournament in Hungary and in the UEFA U17 Championship. Until middle 2019, Cutajar kept on playing in the 2^nd Division for Mellieha and one season with Swieqi United, joining Zebbug Rangers in the 1^st Division. The last three years he played for Mqabba, St George’s and Qrendi, all in the Challenge League. Last Sunday’s appearance was already his 190^th at senior level, but his very first in the top flight. 

1 – The win of Santa Lucia against Mosta (1-0) was not only their first win of the season, but also the very first victory of the Lucians over the Blues in the Premier League. They needed 10 attempts for that as Mosta managed to win seven of the previous nine games, with two encounters finishing in a draw.

6 – Valletta’s 0-1 defeat in the derby against Floriana meant that the Citizens failed to score against their arch rivals for the sixth consecutive time in the Premier League, a remarkable figure. Floriana won five of these six games, twice 3-0, twice 1-0 and a 2-0, while the remaining one was a goalless draw. The last time Valletta managed to find the net in the MPL against the Greens was in their 1-0 victory on the 2^nd February 2020, thanks to a solitary Steve Borg goal. It needs to be noted that Valletta found the net against Floriana in the 2021/22 FA Trophy Final, a match won 2-1 by Floriana, with the Lilywhites goal coming from Mario Fontanella.

20 – Gabriel Mensah’s goal against Naxxar Lions on Sunday morning was the 20^th Premier League goal for the nippy Ghanese striker. He made 16 for his current club Gudja United and four for the team who introduced him to Maltese football and the Premier League, Pieta’ Hotspurs. Last season the 28-year-old played with Hibernians but failed to find the net with the Paolites. Mensah is the only footballer from Ghana who made over 100 MPL appearances, the match against Naxxar was his 111^th.

30 – Balzan and Sirens met for the 30^th time in history in an official match. Balzan won 17, Sirens eight and there were five draws with Balzan scoring 55 goals against 36 for Sirens. The very first official senior meeting between the two clubs was on 24 November 1973. This 3^rd Division clash at the Pace Grasso Stadium ended in mayhem as, with the score 1-0 in favour of Sirens, the match was abandoned in the 41^st minute. Eventually, the result was allowed to stand.

100 - Jose Ulises Arias (27) made his 100th Premier League appearance against Valletta. The Argentinian midfielder played all these games for Floriana, the club he joined halfway season 2018/19. His first match for the Greens was against Hamrun Spartans (1-1) on 11 January 2019. With 3 European Cup matches, 7 in the FA Trophy and the Super Cup match last season, his grand total in Malta is currently 111, all for the Irish. 

130 – The victory of Sliema Wanderers over Hibernians was the 130^th win in history of the Blues over the Peacocks. The old rivals met for the very first time on 26 March 1933 and played out a 1-1 draw in a league game. In the 268 matches played, all competitions, Hibernians won 79 while 59 ended in a draw.

200 – Luke Montebello made his 200^th Premier League appearance in Malta in Hamrun Spartans’ 3-0 defeat against Birkirkara. The Malta international is a Birkirkara youth academy product but, after an 18-month period with Livorno in the Italian Primavera competition, the striker signed for Valletta upon his return to Malta, making his Premier debut for the Citizens on 8 February 2014 in a 1-0 victory over Balzan. While with Valletta, Montebello was loaned to Zebbug Rangers, Tarxien Rainbows and Pembroke Athleta, were he made respectively 12, 31 and four MPL appearances before returning to Valletta. In 2017, after 38 MPL games for Valletta, Montebello returned to his apprentice club Birkirkara, where he remained for five seasons, including a short loan stint with Balzan where he made nine top flight appearances. After 75 MPL games for the Stripes, he joined his current club Hamrun Spartans in the summer of 2022. The match against his former club last Saturday was his 31^st for the Spartans in the MPL. Montebello scored 77 Premiership goals in the process.