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Showing posts with label Xabi Alonso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xabi Alonso. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 January 2016
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Lewandowski Fires Another Five
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| Getty Images |
Robert Lewandowski continued his remarkable scoring run with a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday to end the Croats’ 45-game unbeaten run and put Bayern Munich in firm control of Champions League Group F.
In an explosive first half in which Bayern were 4-0 up inside half an hour, the Poland striker, who has scored 10 goals in their past three matches, including five in nine minutes against Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, struck twice in seven minutes.
“He is having an amazing run and an unbelievable week behind him,” the Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said. “A striker like Lewandowski doesn’t need any prodding. He could be even more dangerous than last season.”
Douglas Costa put the hosts ahead with a fine low shot after 13 minutes and Mario Götze added his second of the campaign before Poland captain Lewandowski chipped the goalkeeper Eduardo in the 55th minute for his third goal as Bayern moved to a maximum six points from two matches.
“I want to congratulate my players for tonight,” the Bayern coach, Pep Guardiola, said. “They had a top performance. With [wingers] Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman our game is much better. Robert and Thomas Müller have much more space in the middle.
“Now we are off to the Oktoberfest and then we will start thinking about Borussia Dortmund on the weekend,” he added, referring to their top-of-the-Bundesliga clash.
Dinamo, unbeaten in 45 games in all competitions before playing in Munich, and winners at Arsenal in their opening group game, were mere observers as they witnessed Bayern’s awe-inspiring display of speed, skill and strength.
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Lewandowski Hitst Five in Nine Minutes
Robert Lewandowski scored an incredible five goals in nine second-half minutes, including the league’s fastest hat-trick, to propel Bayern Munich to a sensational 5-1 victory over their title rivals Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena.
Daniel Caligiuri gave the visitors the lead, but that was wiped out in stunning fashion by the Polish striker, who took matters into his own hands after coming on at half-time, beginning his scoring spree in the 51st minute.
He completed a sensational five-minute hat-trick, added a fourth moments later then took his tally to five on the hour with a brilliant acrobatic volley as Bayern claimed their sixth win from as many matches to go three points clear at the top of the table.
“I am very happy for Robert,” the Bayern manager Pep Guardiola said. “For his confidence and our future this was extremely important.
“I can’t really understand it. Five goals. Neither as a coach nor as a player did I ever experience something like this and I can’t really explain it. Five goals against Wolfsburg are never easy.”
Wolfsburg employed similar tactics to their German Supercup win over Bayern, sitting back and soaking up pressure before hitting quickly on the break. This gave Bas Dost, restored to the starting XI after being dropped at the weekend, an early chance to beat Manuel Neuer, even if it proved to be a rare opening for the Dutchman, who had given his coach food for thought with a brace as a substitute on Saturday.
Arturo Vidal and Thomas Müller missed the target as Bayern tried to make something out of their possession, but Diego Benaglio had little work to do in the Wolfsburg goal.
Just as Bayern passed through four hours without conceding in all competitions, they fell behind with Caligiuri beating Neuer with a powerful volley inside his near post.
Julian Draxler tested Neuer before the Bayern and Germany No1 went walkabout, losing possession in the Wolfsburg half, from where Josuha Guilavogui took aim for the open goal only to find the outside of the left-hand post.
Guardiola sent Lewandowski and Javier Martínez on for the second half, shifting his players around a little, and it worked just five minutes in with the Pole bringing Bayern level.
Müller burst through and as the ball got away from him, it teed up Lewandowski to tap in from close range. He had barely finished celebrating that goal when he put Bayern in front from much further out, beating Benaglio with a low shot from 20 yards.
Lewandowski completed his hat-trick in the 55th minute, first striking a post then hitting Benaglio before converting at the third time of asking. He added his and Bayern’s fourth three minutes after, volleying in from seven yards out to put the result beyond any doubt.
His hot streak continued with goal number five in 10 minutes, an even sweeter volley from the edge of the box which had even Guardiola holding his head in shock on the touchline. It was the fastest five-goal haul in Bundesliga history.
Ricardo Rodríguez denied Lewandowski a sixth with a clearance off the line as Bayern’s striker tore through the Wolfsburg defence, despite being touch-and-go before kick-off due to injury.
“What can I say?,” the Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking said. “A world-class striker shot five times on goal and could have scored seven. That is how it happened.
“But with our quality this should not happen. We had a good first half and Bayern could not up the pace of the game and then came these nine minutes. It’s inexplicable.”
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Florentino at Odds with Cristiano
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| Getty Images |
Pérez, who has splashed hundreds of millions of euros of the European champions’ cash on top players in recent years, said the loyalty of Ronaldo, the current world player of the year, had been “unquestionable”. The Portugal captain made headlines on Monday when he said the club’s transfer dealings in the latest window would probably have been different if he had been in charge.
“I know Cristiano Ronaldo very well,” Pérez said in a press conference on Thursday. “Cristiano is the best player in the world and his loyalty to Madrid is unquestionable. I have listened to all the comments he made and as I know him, I know that he never questioned the club. My relationship with him is perfect, there are zero discrepancies.”
After winning a record-extending 10th European crown last season, when Ronaldo was the team’s top scorer, Real sold Xabi Alonso and Ángel di Maria and brought in Toni Kroos and James Rodríguez. The departure of Alonso to Bayern Munich, in particular, has prompted suggestions the Madrid club will not have enough quality and experience in midfield without him, while the Argentinian Di María is seen as close to Ronaldo.
Real stuttered in their second La Liga outing at the weekend when they let slip a 2-0 lead and crashed to a 4-2 reverse at Real Sociedad. Ronaldo, 29, missed the game through injury and he followed up his comments on Monday by giving an interview to a British newspaper in which he appeared to suggest he wanted to return to former club Manchester United at some point in his career.
Pérez, who pushed through a lucrative contract extension for Ronaldo in September last year that ties him to the club until 2018, defended Real’s decision to sell Alonso and Di María. “I’ve been here since 2000,” Pérez said. “Since then a lot of players have come and gone and my experience tells me that the ones that leave are always the best and those that arrive are always questioned.
“My first [signing] was [Zinezine] Zidane and the last [before this summer’s transfer market] was [Gareth] Bale. We made the best offer that we could to Di María and he didn’t accept it. Hence, we brought in James [Rodríguez], one of the best players at the World Cup and the Golden Boot award winner.
“Di María had financial requests that I considered legitimate but we couldn’t satisfy them. I reiterate that we made him the best possible offer.
“With the exception of Cristiano [Ronaldo], Di María would have been the highest paid at Real Madrid. Had we accepted his financial demands it would have created an unbalanced treatment that would have put the club’s stability in danger.”
Pérez also explained Alonso’s surprising move to Bayern. “Xabi came to us and told us that he wanted to leave,” he said. “He thought it was the best for him and for the club. Our relationship with Xabi is excellent and we accepted his proposal.
“Xabi is in the final stages of his sporting career and wants to manage it in this way. We understand it and we respect it.”
Pérez revealed that Carlo Ancelotti proved crucial in his club’s decision not to sign Radamel Falcao this summer. Falcao was heavily linked with a move to the Bernabéu in the past few months but joined Manchester United on a season-long loan from Monaco on Monday instead.
“We considered signing Falcao,” Pérez said. “But in this club we follow a sporting-economic equation which [the former club president Santiago] Bernabéu taught us, and we decided not to do so. The coach’s opinion was also important in us turning it down.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Bale Tally Increases at Real
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| Getty Images |
Gareth Bale made it 18 goals in his first season at Real Madrid with the spectacular second in his team's convincing win over Real Sociedad.
The Welshman took full advantage of a mistake by keeper Claudio Bravo hammering the ball past him after he had been gifted possession by the Chilean keeper.
Bale took the Cristiano Ronaldo role so seriously that not only did he score, the 24-year-old also played out the game with a cut knee just as the rested leading scorer had done two weeks ago.
Bale cut his right leg as he fell on to the studs of Markel Bergara after being scythed down by the defender.
It was not the most inspirational of Real Madrid performances in the first half, but they moved through the gears in the second period to take the three points to stay in touch with Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, who earlier both won their games on Saturday.
Diego Lopez saved point blank from Carlos Vela with the first chance of the game, although an erroneous offside flag meant the goal would not have stood.
Real Sociedad then had to take Jose Angel off injured, with Ion Ansotegui coming on for the home side.
Antoine Griezman had Real Sociedad’s next chance with a looping heading from a Vela pass as Real Madrid struggled to get into their stride.
On 26 minutes, Real Madrid had their first free-kick in a dangerous area and with no Ronaldo, Bale stepped up but shot tamely into the wall.
Despite suggestions before the game he would play in Ronaldo’s left-side berth, he started in his usual right wing position, although he switched to the left with 10 minutes left of the first half and enjoyed his best spell whipping over a fine cross that just eluded Benzema.
Bale was then found by a superb pass from former Tottenham team-mate Luka Modric, but this time failed to get his cross in.
Madrid finally broke the deadlock on the stroke of half time when Benzema’s shot was blocked by Bravo and ran straight into the path of Asier Illaramendi. The former Real Sociedad midfielder stuck out a right leg to shin the ball home, refusing to celebrate against his old team.
Ramos crashed a header on to the bar from a Xabi Alonso free-kick at the start of the second half.
Carlos Martinez shot from distance for Real Sociedad but there looked little chance of a comeback from the home side and Bale kept up the Real Madrid pressure, first with a header from a Modric corner and then a shot through a crowded penalty area that Bravo blocked.
The Chilean keeper then kept out a Xabi Alonso free-kick. He also watched a Benzema shot come back off of his post. But he could do nothing about the Bale shot after he inadvertently gifted him the chance.
Bale was mobbed by the Real Madrid bench having once again proved that Ronaldo's absence need not be a problem for them. He was taken off with five minutes left just as Real got their third from a corner. Modric's kick was headed down by Ramos and Pepe pounced to finish from the edge of the six-yard box.
And there was still time for substitute Alvaro Morata to race away and convert a well-taken fourth
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