Two astonishing goals in Roma’s 3-1 win at Inter showcased the Belgian’s talents and helped keep the Giallorossi snapping at Juve’s heelsRadja Nainggolan makes no secret of his vices. He likes to smoke, to stay out late and to dance. When Rolling Stone magazine asked him whether he considered himself a “discotheque footballer” in late 2015, he replied with an unapologetic “yes”, before adding: “I have no desire to stay home every evening like other players who just go ‘house, football pitch, house, football pitch’.”That mindset has not always endeared him to coaches. Marc Wilmots, after leaving Nainggolan out of Belgium’s 2014 World Cup squad, eventually came to recognise the player’s talent and subsequently made sure that the player’s hotel...
HSV’s malaise has run deep this season, and it will need a real shift in terms of collective responsibility to avoid a season’s end as ruinous as its start“This is something that can’t be allowed to happen, but it has happened.” Just when life starts to look good again, along come Bayern Munich. Or more specifically in Hamburg’s case, a trip to Munich to face them in the Allianz Arena. Among a squad of shell-shocked players, few seemed quite as humbled as the captain, Gotoku Sakai, after Saturday’s 8-0 drubbing by Bayern. In terms of even recent historical perspective, it was hardly a coupon-buster. Starting from 2010, Hamburg’s reverses on their visits to Bayern have been by the scores of...
The Osnabrück coach has his side challenging for promotion to the German second-tier. But he knows Americans have to earn respect in European footballUnlikely relegation contenders have become a feature of recent Bundesliga campaigns. Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side flirting with the trapdoor during the 2014-15 season is one dramatic example while Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV, down in the trenches during the current campaign, are also in trouble. The former USA international Joe Enochs watches these pressure cooker scenarios from his perch near the top of Germany’s third division with relish.To be fair, Enoch’s own resume includes a few of them. VfL Osnabrück, the club he represented for the majority of his playing career, were a yo-yo club for...
There was something about the win over Leganés, the performance, the whole night, that was deeper than a single game. Barça need something to believe inIt was the 89th minute and it could have been the end; 63,378 people watched, minus those who’d already departed depressed – and there were plenty of them – as he stood alone before them. Standing before him, meanwhile, was Iago Herrerín; Iago Herrerín and disaster. But there were no nerves, just annoyance, and there would be no joy, not even much sign of relief. Leo Messi took the penalty that might just have rescued Barcelona’s season, pulling them from an even darker place and keeping them alive for another week at least, as if...
Nouri was right to provide perspective after his side beat Mainz, calling it ‘a small step in the right direction. Many more,’ he added, ‘have to follow’After the ride he’s had to endure since the Bundesliga restart, perhaps it’s unfair to expect Alexander Nouri to raise one eyebrow and drop a Mourinho-esque quote at the end of the game, even if it did bring victory. “You get perfection in the Chinese State Circus,” he reasoned after his team’s 2-0 win at Mainz gave everybody involved with the club a chance to exhale. Clunky, maybe, but most coaches who have been in a similar situation could probably empathise.Either way, Saturday’s win was exactly what Werder Bremen needed – and exactly what...