European Football Roundup September 13th
- Like all sports, Football copycats successful trends from other teams. After Barcelona’s successful with Pep Guardiola you knew it was only a matter of time before other clubs would try to find former players to lead their clubs. The good so far is Juventus as Ciro Ferrara passed a tricky test beating Lazio in Rome 2-0. Then you have Leonardo who is quickly proving to be out of his element after seeing A.C Milan listless 0-0 draw against Livorno.
- Took some dramatics but a new coach often brings a postive result the first game in. After Paul Codred got sent off for Siena that gave Roma the momentum they needed to turn a 1-0 deficit into a late 2-1 win thanks to John Arne Riise’s 89th minute strike.
- You hear me praise Jose Mourinho a lot but sometimes it just boils down to a gifted player making a gifted play. A goal of the quality of Smauel Eto’o you can not coach. In a game against Parma that Inter were struggling to break through for Eto’o to find his way into this Inter side so quickly bodes well for this club going forward.
- This was a tricky week in the season. With players coming break from International duty then looking forward to mid week Champions League games these are often the week where some big teams are upset. Barcelona to their credit like Inter may not of been at their best but they too overcame a tough Getafe team 2-0 with Zlatan Ibrahimovic breaking the deadlock.
- Tipping my cap to Manuel Pellegrini who kept Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench against Espanyol and came out smelling like roses afterwards. The man who started in place of Ronaldo, Esteban Granero got Real Madrid on track scoring their opening goal.
- You have no idea how annoyed I was seeing Ronaldo score in the second half since the last time he scored a goal in a game that meant something for Portugal was back in Euro 2008. Mini rant over for now. Check back next month for more.
- He may not be the first player on Bayern Munich you think of but Bastian Schweinsteiger is the pulse of this Bayern Munich attack. After a rocky start everything is coming up roses for Bayern Munich beating Borussia Dortmund 5-1.
- His brother is about to start his MLS career but Jonathan De Guzman has a long career ahead of him in Europe. Added another goal to his tally, scoring from a late free kick to break the deadlock between Feyenoord and Willem. Only a matter of time before De Guzman takes the next step and joins a team in one of Europe’s top four leagues.
- It’s official I’m on the Benfica bandwagon. I love the way Jorge Jesus has his team playing. After beating Vitória Setúbal 8-1 two weeks ago, Benfica handed Freddy Adu’s new team Belenenses a 4-0 lesson this afternoon.