Robben-inspired Bayern eye record winning streak

February 20, 2010

Bayern Munich bid to equal a record of 10 straight league wins on Saturday when they travel to lowly Nuremberg for a match that could see them top the table for the first time in 21 months.

Inspired by Dutch international winger Arjen Robben, who has found the net in his last six outings, Bayern have embarked on a tremendous run of form, winning their last 13 games in a row in all competitions.

And the 21-time Bundesliga kings will travel to relegation-threatened Nuremberg full of confidence after scraping a 2-1 win in their Champions League last-16 first leg against Fiorentina on Wednesday.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said his men would be in no mood for generosity towards their local rivals.

“We can’t be handing out any neighbourly presents. We need every point and every goal, even if there are two players in the Nuremberg side who we really like,” he said.

Rummenigge was referring to midfielder Andreas Ottl and Brazilian defender Breno, both of whom are on loan from Bayern.

However, Ottl too was in no mood for sentimentality in the run-up to the match, vowing that Nuremberg would “fight tooth and nail” against their illustrious rivals.

Bayern have also been boosted by the return to fitness of French international star midfielder Franck Ribery, who played a full 90 minutes against Fiorentina for the first time since a four-month injury lay-off.

However, coach Louis van Gaal said his Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten would miss the match and possibly also Bayern’s crunch clash with fourth-placed Hamburg on February 28, after picking up a calf injury on Wednesday.

While the focus will naturally be on Bayern, their main competitors for the title, Bayer Leverkusen — currently top of the league by one goal on goal difference — are also in the hunt for records this weekend.

If Jupp Heynckes’s men avoid defeat away to Werder Bremen on Sunday, it will be their 23rd consecutive game without losing, ironically overhauling a record set by Bayern in 1988-89 when they were coached by Heynckes himself.

Third-placed Schalke are also playing away from home, at last season’s champions Wolfsburg, now fallen from grace and languishing at 12th in the table.

The other team still in the Bundesliga hunt is Hamburg, buoyed by the recent signing of Dutch superstar Ruud van Nistelrooy.

And the 33-year-old former Manchester United striker is bullish about his new team’s chances, telling Kicker magazine on Thursday: “We have enough quality and with 12 league games to go, everything is possible.”

At the other end of the table, Hertha Berlin, still four points adrift at the bottom of the league, have a must-win game against newly-promoted Freiburg, themselves only one place from relegation difficulty in 15th.

Fixtures

Saturday (1430GMT)

Nuremberg v Bayern Munich, Cologne v Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund v Hanover, Hamburg v Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz v Bochum

Sunday (1630GMT unless otherwise stated)

Freiburg v Hertha Berlin (1430GMT), Wolfsburg v Schalke, Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen

BERLIN (AFP)

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Mourinho hails Inter’s victory

November 5, 2009

Jose Mourinho hailed Internazionale’s ‘heart, desire and unity’ after they took a major step towards qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev.

The Italian champions have jumped from the bottom to the top of Group F after after their first group stage win of the season in difficult conditions in Ukraine.

The Nerazzurri went behind midway through the first half, when Andriy Shevchenko put the hosts ahead, however two very late goals to Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder proved to be enough for the Italians.

“It was a fantastic performance full of heart, desire, emotion and unity,” said the Inter boss to Sky after goals from Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder.

“This was a victory that we truly deserved, and now we can set our sights on qualifying from our next couple of games.

I think in the second half, we changed the character and personality of the team. I made some changes, but the team responded well to the message I gave them at the interval.

They achieved this result by fighting tooth and nail for it, and they all played with their hearts on their sleeves as well. We deserved to win,” affirms Mourinho.

Although the reigning Italian champions are now top of their group after four rounds of matches, the race to progress is still well and truly up for grabs.

“However, we need more. I think nine points are enough to go through, so we need three from the next two matches against Barcelona and Rubin.

“Tonight with a draw or a defeat it still would’ve been possible but very complicated.

“We stepped into this stadium last and left at the top,” concludes Inter’s coach

Anurada Bhat

Tags: andriy shevchenko, bottom to the top, champions league, diego milito, dynamo kiev, emotion, grabs, group stage, heart desire, internazionale, interval, italians, jose mourinho, personality, second half, tooth and nail, unity, victory, Wesley Sneijder

United and Arsenal ready to resume rivalry

August 29, 2009

Arsenal visit Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Saturday for a fixture which is likely to revive memories of some of the English game’s most bitter battles.

After a decade of fighting tooth and nail for the top prizes, images of Roy Keane’s tunnel row with Patrick Vieira, Martin Keown’s gleeful celebration of a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty miss and the juicy tales of “pizza-gate” following a United win over the Gunners are etched in the memory.

The rivalry between the two clubs has been less fierce in recent years as Arsenal faded from the picture.

But the meeting between the teams in the Champions League semi-finals last season – a tie easily won by United – and Arsenal’s impressive start to the current campaign gives this weekend’s game a more combustable look.

Outsiders and pundits have queued up to tell Gunners boss Arsene Wenger that the best years are behind his team – his best team being the unbeaten ‘Invincibles’ side of 2003-2004 – but the Frenchman himself begs to differ as he is again backing his side to win the Premier League.

Despite having not won any significant silverware since 2005, Wenger refuses to be fazed, backing the young age of his team to stand Arsenal in good stead.

“A team which averages 28 or 29 years old can maybe improve by 5 percent but a team averaging 22 years old can improve by 30 percent,” he said.

“But I’m very confident because we have quality, we have attitude, we have talent and we have ambition.

“I am confident we will do very well and hopefully we will surprise many people.

“I envisage only one order and that is Arsenal finishing on top and all the rest can do what they want.”

Sir Alex Ferguson will be one of those men mentioned trying to stop Wenger from completing his wish of winning the Premier League but United?s season has not got off to the most comprehensive of starts ahead of Arsenal’s visit.

A 1-0 loss to newcomers Burnley was a huge surprise and prompted many to suggest United are not the same side without Cristiano Ronaldo following his move to Real Madrid.

But United will go into the Arsenal encounter buoyed by a 5-0 victory over Wigan – the perfect response to the critics following their loss at Turf Moor.

The team has been creatively led by Wayne Rooney since Ronaldo’s departure and he has magnificently repaid Ferguson’s faith by having his best ever start to a Premier League campaign with four goals in three matches.

United are likely to need all his abilities against Arsenal but he is confident he can fulfill Ferguson’s expectations of 25 goals this season.

He said: “Of course 25 is a target which I hope I’m going to reach.

“I’ve always said I should score more and hopefully I’ll do that this season. I’ve got what I wanted. I like to play through the middle.”

“The manager has come out now and said I am going to play there throughout the season so I’m delighted with that.”

Arsenal came through their Champions League qualifier with Celtic unscathed earlier this week but have a doubt over captain Cesc Fabregas, who has a hamstring injury, while United will again be without central defender Rio Ferdinand.

He has not played since injuring his thigh against Chelsea in the Community Shield but he is hoping to return to the United side for the fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on September 12 – two weeks quicker than initially thought and straight after the impending international break.

“I hope to be back to full fitness in a couple of weeks,” he said. “I’ve been working really hard with the physios – they’ve been running me into the ground doing bike rides all over Cheshire.”

MANCHESTER, England (AFP)

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City’s spending spree makes sense in battle for fourth place

August 6, 2009

There’s been a fair bit of speculation, here and elsewhere, about whether Manchester City could actually win the Premier League title but a more realistic goal is a top four finish. That being the case, the summer spending spree seen by some as being brash and uncoordinated is actually very shrewd.

Look carefully, and what City have managed to do, with the recruitment of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, is to weaken two of their rivals for fourth place.

Last season Villa and Arsenal fought tooth and nail for that position and with his transfer policy Mark Hughes has struck an early couple of blows in this season’s fight.

Note that City also have their sights on defender Joleon Lescott from Everton, another team with Champions League aspirations.

Add to that the hugely satisfying signing of former Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez and there would seem to be a pattern to their spending spree — even if results are not yet going their way.

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