In today’s look at the language of football newspaper headlines we feature the Champions League match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid and the headline: ‘Robert Lewandowski slams four past Real Madrid as Dortmund take control‘ from The Guardian newspaper. You can also find many more examples of football phrases here, as well as football cliches and our huge football glossary here.‘Robert Lewandowski slams four past Real Madrid as Dortmund take control’
Today’s headline is from The Guardian newspaper and is all about the Champions League first leg game between German side Borussia Dortmund and Spanish team Real Madrid. Like their German counterparts the previous night, Dortmund thrashed a Spanish side and now look odds on to make the final at Wembley. The hero for Dortmund was the Polish striker Robert Lewandowski who scored all four goals in their 4-1 victory. There are two parts to this headline: first, the newspaper has used the verb ‘slams‘ which here means to score a goal but also suggests that these goals will have a strong impact on the losing side, Madrid. The second part of the headline explains that Dortmund are now favourites to make it through to the final: they have taken control of the game and it will be very difficult for Real Madrid to make a comeback. To paraphrase this title we might say ‘Lewandowski’s four goals help Dortmund to dominate the tie‘.
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