FC Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o and Gonzalo Higuaín of Real Madrid CF were responsible for eight of the 34 goals scored in the Liga over the weekend, with Monday headlines greeting the latter as 'The New Idol' in Spain.
Goal machine
Both players struck four times for the Spanish heavyweights within the space of a few hours on Saturday night, bringing back memories of 18 and 19 April, 1992 when Barcelona's Hristo Stoichkov and Madrid stalwart Fernando Hierro also hit four in the same round of games. Eto'o's goals, all of which came in the first half of the 6-0 home win over Real Valladolid CF, helped Josep Guardiola's side to maintain their one-point league lead over Villarreal CF and raised the former RCD Mallorca player's profile even further after he completed his best start to a season in the club's famous colours with 13 goals in ten Liga appearances.
A lot to prove
After a slow start which saw the Blaugrana lose away to newly-promoted CD Numancia and draw at home to Real Racing Club, Guardiola's men have won their subsequent eight matches and are the first team in 50 years to score 34 goals in their opening ten Liga outings. Despite those impressive figures, Guardiola still sees room for improvement. "I think there are things we can do better," said the 37-year-old. "We're not a perfect team; we haven't won any titles yet." A perfect team they may not yet be but in Eto'o, a player who has scored 92 league goals in 118 league appearances, Barcelona may have the perfect centre forward.
Press praise
A player who is looking to challenge the Cameroon international in the race for the Pichichi title is Higuaín who, after his own four-goal haul in the 4-3 win against Málaga CF has now netted nine in nine for a Madrid team that are fourth, two points off top spot. 'Higuaín releases the genie' and 'The New Idol' were among Monday's headlines in praise of the Argentinian. "I always try to do my best and today was a great day," the 20-year-old said after Saturday's game, the signed matchball under his arm. With two of Higuaín's goals coming from the spot, his coach Bernd Schuster preferred to offer advice instead of praise. "I told him he might consider slightly changing the way he takes his penalties," said the German.
0 comments:
Post a Comment