The
major matches of the week:
Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt are two of the
contesters for the Bundesliga silver medals this season. Their initial meeting
took place in Dortmund on the 16th of February.
Already by the 7th minute Marco Reus had created
a couple of great moves, which, fortunately for the visitors, didn’t get to open
the score. However, Reus scored the opener showing some master class again,
when on the 8th he beautifully
sent the ball to Gundogan with his chest,
and ran to receive the ball in a moment, appearing one-on-one with Eintracht’s
goalkeeper. Two mintues later the inspirational defender Hummels intercepted
the ball in his half, moved forward and passed the ball to Marco Reus, who, as
in the previous episode, won the rendezvous with goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. The 31st
minute is curst for Borussia forwards. As in the previous Bundesliga match the team’s
forward was dismissed. In the match gainst Hamburger it was Robert Lewandowski,
and now it was Julian Schieber, who got two yellow cards by that minute. This promised
Frankfurt team some chances to save the match. The enthusiasm of the visitors
was sunk as the same Reus scored his third from the penalty area, completing a
great hat-trick. On the 73rd minute the squads got equal, as Takashi
Inui was expulsed. Borussia is gradually getting his great form back, which
makes Klopp’s team the main candidate for the second place and a probable Champions
League quarterfinal participant.
Italian AS Roma’s administration made a decision to
promote the experienced assistant manager Aurelio Andreazzoli into head coach’s
position as Zdenek Zeman was sacked. Andreazzoli’s main objective was to stop
the team conceding so many goals. The match against Juventus was the first
biggest challenge for the newly appointed manager. He returned Stekelenburg and
De Rossi to the first team. The opponents Juventus were just back from Scotland,
where they spent an effective but exhausting Champions League match. Antonio
Conte added Asamoah to his troop and led it to Coliseum.
Juve’s main problem of internal origin is the absence
of a superforward, who can score goals in toughest matches. The problem of
external origin is the opponent’s intense tactics, which might even turn into nasty
from time to time. In this case it was Roma to use this gladiator tactics. The
team blocked all the paths leading to its goal. Such tactics usually lasts
until the first excellent move from Juventus’s midfielders. Andreazzoli didn’t
wait until this moment and broke the opponent’s midfield instead. Nasty tackles
and constant fouls made Italian champions nervous. Pirlo, who didn’t shine in
Glasgow either, stopped delivering genius balls; Vidal, Vucinic and Matri were
too passive, enthusiastic Marchisio was absent. The defenders of Juve were,
nevertheless, on their top. Several times they saved the team from conceding a
goal. Especially good was Martin Caceres, who is turning into a quality central
defender while Chiellini is recovering from an injury. The breakthrough came
from a home free kick. The shot was blocked and Roma’s legendary captain
Francesco Totti shot from a distance to score one of the most beautiful and
important goals of Serie A this season.
The match reminded the great battles of Italian giants
of 1990-2000s, where teams were adopting cautious tactics and usually not
creating lots of danger in front of opponent’s goals. A very beautiful tactical
match, where Andreazzoli earned a lot of respect by not conceding from the most
scoring Serie A team.
Highlights
of the week:
- Arsenal is out of the
FA Cup. They lost to Blackburn, now representing the Championship. Arsene
Wenger’s live at Arsenal is not getting better,
- Messi continues the
record: he has now scored in 14 consecutive La Liga matches,
- Drogba’s debut at Galatasaray
turned to be a success. The Champions League winner scored already 6 minutes
after appearing on the pitch for his new club,
- Balotelli scored his
fourth in his third game for Milan. He is the only Milan player to score in
these games, with another goal being an own goal. The team is suddenly on the
third place and a candidate to knock Barcelona out of the Champions League.
The
upcoming weekend:
The most important matches of the weekend include the
Milan derby and the great match in France between PSG and Marseille. The
midweek promises another El Classico, which will decide the participant of the
Spanish national cup finalist. Another big cup-clash is between Borussia and
Bayern. This match will take place on Wednesday.
| Club | Last Matches | Next match | Position in the domestic league |
| Arsenal (England) | 16.02 Blackburn (Cup) 0-1 19.02 Bayern (H) 1-3 | 23.02 Aston Villa (H) | 5 |
| Man. Utd. (England) | 18.02 Reading (Cup) 2-1 | 23.02 QPR (A) | 1 |
| FC Barcelona (Spain) | 16.02 Granada (A) 2-1 20.02 Milan (A) 0-2 | 23.02 Sevilla (H) | 1 |
| Real Madrid (Spain) | 17.02 Rayo Vallec. (H) 2-0 | 23.02 Deportivo (A) | 3 |
| Valencia (Spain) | 17.02 R. Mallorca (H) 2-0 | 23.02 Zaragoza (A) | 5 |
| Malaga (Spain) | 16.02 Athletic (H) 1-0 19.02 Porto (A) 0-1 | 24.02 Real Betis (A) | 4 |
| Bayern (Germany) | 15.02 Wolfsburg (A) 2-0 19.02 Arsenal (A) 3-1 | 23.02 Werder Br. (H) | 1 |
| Borussia D. (Germany) | 16.02 Eintracht Fr. (H) 3-0 | 24.02 Borussia M. (A) | 2 |
| Schalke 04 (Germany) | 16.02 Mainz (A) 2-2 20.02 Galatasaray (A) 1-1 | 23.02 Fortuna (H) | 9 |
| Porto (Portugal) | 15.02 Beira-Mar (A) 2-0 19.02 Malaga (H) 1-0 | 23.02 Rio Ave (H) | 1 |
| Galatasaray (Turkey) | 15.02 Akhisar Bld. (A) 2-1 20.02 Schalke 04 (H) 1-1 | 25.02 Orduspor (H) | 1 |
| Juventus (Italy) | 16.02 Roma (A) 0-1 | 24.02 Siena (H) | 1 |
| Milan (Italy) | 15.02 Parma (H) 2-1 20.02 Barcelona (H) 2-0 | 24.02 Inter (A) | 3 |
| PSG (France) | 17.02 Sochaux (A) 2-3 | 24.02 Ol. Marseille (H) | 1 |
| Shakhtar D. (Ukraine) | 13.02 Borussia D. (H) 2-2 | 02.03 Volyn (H) | 1 |
| Celtic (Scotland) | 16.02 Dundee Utd. (H) 6-2 19.02 St. Johnstone (A) 1-1 | 24.02 Dundee FC (H) | 1 |
No comments:
Post a Comment