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| Gladbach celebrate |
Shock results and upsets have become commonplace recently which prompts me to believe a special football season is upon us. Bundesliga bully boys Bayern Munich are failing to win in Germany with the start of Niko Kovac’s tenure not offering the consistent wins and superior showings we are used to, Borussia Monchengladbach have often been Bayern’s tormentors in recent years and so it proved again with a 3-0 win over the defending champions last weekend. Torment in Bavaria has brought delight at Dortmund as Borussia Dortmund’s young side sit pretty atop the German top flight, Lucien Favre’s lads were involved in a thrilling 4-3 win over Augsburg, I love the smooth blend of youth and experience currently at Dortmund with Christian Pulisic and Jadon Sancho providing the youthful brilliance supported by experienced campaigners like Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze and Marcel Schmelzer. They’re still a long way from claiming their (and anyone else except Bayern’s) first Bundesliga trophy since 2012 but Dortmund are my favourite German club and i hope they go all the way this season.
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| Borussia Dortmund players mob hat-trick hero Paco Alcácer |
Real Madrid are knee-deep in a mess at the moment after another shocking 1-0 away loss, this time to this season’s highflyers Deportivo Alaves. They can’t find the back of the net at the moment and the International break has come at the perfect moment for Julen Lopetegui’s staff and players to go away and reflect on their current turmoil hoping to find a solution by the time they regroup for their next league game in two weeks’ time.
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| Dejected Madrid players- AFP. |
Manchester United and José Mourinho also broke a norm by finally pulling off a win in a vintage comeback at Old Trafford with some very strange tactics from Mourinho that turned the game on its head. Kudos to José and his players who must ensure they continue the winning form and save us our breathes for now. José Mourinho took the opportunity of his post match press conference to thank his Old Trafford bosses and the fans for sticking by him and his team then claim the world is wicked and there is a ‘manhunt’ against him because he’s blamed for everything that goes wrong in the world (including Brexit and the London weather), creating that siege mentality he’s so fond of at his clubs. Sleeping giants AC Milan extended their own winning run to three games thanks in no small part to a certain Gonzalo Higuain from Argentina, its been a very turbulent few years for the Rossoneri with a flurry of decent managers and players going in and out of the club. The chief reason for their inconsistent form up until this season has been finding it hard to keep leads in games resulting in silly draws and losses here and there, Its refreshing to detect some form of turnaround but there’s still a lot to be done to finally have a successful season.
John Terry’s retirement this past weekend has seen tributes and messages flying from all over the world. JT was Chelsea’s Captain, Leader, Legend, whose career spanned 23 years with over 20 at Chelsea alone, 78 England caps, 717 Chelsea appearances, 5 Premier league titles, 5 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Champions league, 1 Europa league and 41 premier league goals, the most by any defender in Premier league history. Terry’s retirement comes with recent reports that he will assist Thierry Henry in the Aston Villa manager role he is about to take up. JT is an inspiration to a lot of people and its hard to imagine we won’t see him putting his body on the line to block shots or going up the other end to score bullet headers anymore, Congratulations to him on his retirement and I wish him the very best in whatever he chooses to do next.
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| John Terry- www.sportsnet.com |
The international break is upon us again, Nigeria and other African teams will look to continue their bid for a place at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations but its time to find temporary hobbies and something else to do with our weekends. I’ll probably find out what else shows on TV whilst definitely keeping up with the international games to realize that Madrid Derby rivals Sergio Ramos and Diego Costa (who misses out this time to injury) are indeed Spanish compatriots and hoping regular club football resumes soonest for the true hostilities to return.
Please comment below what your most irregular football result was over the weekend and how you’ll be keeping entertained without club football for the next fortnight.
