| Juventus |
1-2 | Milan |
Juventus |
2-0 | Inter |
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Juventus forward Alessandro Del Piero has proved his worth this week, despite his advancing years, as he bagged himself vital goals against AC Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final and then against Inter in his side’s push for the Serie A title. He was given only his sixth start of the season on Tuesday in the cup clash, and scored a neat close-range finish to take the Bianconeri a goal up within half an hour. He then added to his already magical week by completing the Old Lady’s victory in the Derby d’Italia on Sunday with a typical striker’s finish past the on-rushing Julio Cesar. His team-mates were quick to extol praise on the veteran forward, while coach Antonio Conte claimed he was “decisive”, while centre-back Giorgio Chiellini said he “made the difference”. |
| Congratulations to Del Piero, Goal.com’s 149th World Player of the Week winner! |
Honourable Mentions
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Milan
Zlatan Ibrahimovic added to more goals to his season tally to lead AC Milan to a come-from-behind 2-1 Serie A win against Roma at San Siro. The Swedish striker has now netted 22 times in 23 league games this term, including seven in four since returning from suspension.
Olivier Giroud – Montpellier
Olivier Giroud’s terrific last-minute volley for Montpellier against Saint-Etienne saw his side win 1-0 and go top of Ligue 1 after Paris Saint-German slipped up on Sunday. For Montpellier to be leading the league at this stage of the season is an incredible achievement, and the striker has been their talisman with 18 league goals so far.
Ilkay Gundogan – Borussia Dortmund
Ilkay Gundogan started against Koln in the Bundesliga on Sunday and delivered an impressive performance, scoring a goal and bagging an assist in their 6-1 away triumph. In midweek he was the hero against Greuther Furth as he scored the only goal of the game in the 119th minute to help his team qualify for the DFB-Pokal final.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Two goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in a crucial 2-0 victory for Schalke against Bayer Leverkusen in Gelsenkirchen bumped the Royals Blues into third place, and brought his tally to 40 goals, plus 12 assists, in 38 competitive appearances this season. The 40-goal milestone is a remarkable feat, as only a few centre-forwards over the last decade have reached it.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo became the quickest Real Madrid player to score 100 or more goals in La Liga when he found the target twice against Real Sociedad in their 5-1 home win. His double took his tally to 101 in Spain’s top flight in just 92 games, allowing him to surpass Ferenc Puskas’ record of accumulating a century of La Liga strikes for Los Blancos in 105 matches.
On Sunday we encouraged our readers to nominate their choices for the best player of the week and here are the best three comments we had.
Littlemagician in Finland wanted Lionel Messi to win after his record-breaking week for Barcelona.
“Messi for sure! That little magician scored 3 against Granada and made again a record! Then with 10 men Barcelona won 0-2 Mallorca where Messi again shined! So Messi with 4 goals and 3 assists is the player of the week for me”
James in London picked one from the Bundesliga, and underlined why some feel Manuel Neuer is the best goalkeeper in world football.
“Manuel Neuer. He denied M’gladbach for 120+ minutes and even saved a penalty which won Bayern the game. On Saturday, he managed to keep Hannover from getting back into the game. Totally deserved.”
Reyer in Italy claimed Ibrahimovic should have been honoured with the accolade.
“Ibrahimovic deserves it, his 2 goals against Roma really proved it with 22 goals in 23 games”
Stan in London pointed out a certain Stoke City player for his brilliant volley against Manchester City.
“Surely Peter Crouch for scoring that incredible goal!”
Atashbar in Iraq thought that someone based in Asia should win the award this time.
“Eamon Zayed for hattrick in afc champion.”
And finally, Jad in Lebanon agreed with us, along with many other people.
“Alessandro Del Piero for sure!!! He is a living legend and demonstrated his quality even at this stage of his career. Alex can still be really valuable for Juve for at at least 2 more seasons. Scoring against both milanese sides should definitely make him the player of the week…”
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