This week’s football review – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Hazard and Bayern, David Cameron and crowd trouble in Turin
Good
Eden Hazard is the new Player of the Year in England after his peers chose him ahead of such stars as Manchester City’s Aguero, Arsenal forward Sanchez and Chelsea’s Diego Costa. The Belgian international has scored 18 goals this season and has been instrumental in Chelsea’s rise to the top of the table this season. It was also a good weekend for Bayern Munich who have retained their Bundesliga title after they defeated Hertha Berlin 1-0 and second place Wolfsburg were beaten 0-1 by Borussia Monchengladbach. This left the Bavarians 15 points clear with only four games to play – an unassailable lead. They have the possibility of winning their second treble in three years as they face Dortmund in the semi-final of the German Cup and Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League over the next couple of weeks. Good times for Bayern and their fans.
Bad
British Prime Minister David Cameroon has regularly professed to be an Aston Villa fan but he was embarrassed at the weekend when he appeared to indicate that he was a follower of West Ham in one of his pre-election speeches. He quickly apologised and put it down to a ‘brain fade‘ meaning that he completely forgot what he was thinking about which is not the best thing for someone campaigning to be the leader of football-crazy Britain!
Ugly
The Turin derby was marred by violence on Sunday when 10 Torino fans were injured when a type of paper bomb went off after being thrown into their section of the ground. It is still unclear who threw the device but yet again violence in Italian football has brought the game into disrepute there.
Vocabulary
his peers: The other professional footballers
has been instrumental in: Has been very much involved in
have retained their Bundesliga title: They have won the German League again (third time in a row)
an unassailable lead: They can not be caught
treble: Winning the League and Cup as well as the Champions League
has regularly professed to be: Has continually said (admitted) that…
a follower: A fan/supporter
campaigning: Trying to show voters that he is the best candidate/person for the job
was marred by: The game was overshadowed by violence
went off: Exploded
the device: The thing
brought the game into disrepute: To become ashamed of the behaviour