Germans abroad: Weekend round-up
Very good performances overall this weekend by the Germans abroad.
Premier League
Antonio Rüdiger
Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace
•90 minutes
•Solid performance
The centre-back returned to his usual self against Real Madrid and kept up his form this weekend, reaching the final of the FA Cup with Chelsea and playing a great game.
Rüdiger was solid in the back of three with his defensive challenges and was very accurate and brave with his passing.
The soon-to-be free agent shows more and more confidence going forward, shooting at times, as was the player with the most touches of the game.
Timo Werner
Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace
•90 minutes
•Assist
•Good game
The forward keeps up his great form and is being more decisive each game that goes by.
Werner continues to do the invisible work not shown in the statistics by making movements and forward runs to allow his teammates to find spaces and make great pressing.
But on top of that, the forward is now backing it up with goals and assists, assisting Mason Mount for the definitive 2-0 with a good pass.
Kai Havertz
•Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace
•70 minutes
•Good work between the lines
One of Chelsea’s best players this season, Havertz made good movements attacking the back of the defense and worked well between the lines and the half-spaces of Crystal Palace’s defense.
He participated in Loftus-Cheek’s goal by attacking the space and making a low cross that got deflected and fell to Loftus-Cheek.
Vitaly Janelt
•Watford 1-2 Brentford
•74 minutes
•Not is best game
The midfielder was on a great run of good performances the last couple of weeks, with that peak against Chelsea scoring two goals.
However, in the thrilling game that Brentford won at the last minute against Watford, Janelt wasn't able to produce another good performance.
The box-to-box midfielder could not be decisive either with the ball or without it, making particularly bad decisions with his passes this time.
He occupied the spaces fairly well and displayed his usual physical presence, being subbed off at the 74 minutes.
Pascal Groß
Tottenham 0-1 Brighton
•Full game
•Good performance
Groß continues to be one of Graham Potter’s main men, returning to his natural position in the midfield after playing as a wingback against Arsenal.
The midfielder displayed good decision-making with the ball, making very accurate passes and organizing his team both with the ball and in the defensive pressure, using his voice a lot during the game.
Playing at the right side in the midfield trio, Groß had freedom to push forward and even reach the line as a winger at times. He also was constantly aware of pressing Betancur or Højbjerg to limit Tottenham’s build-up capacity.
La Liga
Toni Kroos
Sevilla 2-3 Real Madrid
•Full game
•Great second half
After his substitution and consequent frustration with Carlo Ancelotti in the UCL match against Chelsea, the German midfielder played a good game against the always tough Sevilla, where Real Madrid practically secured the title.
Kroos played as a holding midfielder, reprising his role for 'Die Mannschaft' by dropping between the centre-backs to organize the game.
Despite suffering like the whole team in the first half, Kroos raised his level in the second 45 minutes. With his signature passes, he gave order and fluidity to Madrid’s game and was also able to press better in the second half with his positioning.
Serie A`
Nadiem Amiri
AC Milan 2-0 Genoa
•Full game
•Good with the ball
•Defensive effort
The loan player from Leverkusen is making a good effort in Genoa. He is the most decisive player and the one that seems hungrier, but his abilities are not a good fit with the way the Genovese are playing.
Amiri gave a solid defensive effort, running to press most of the time as a second forward, while tried to make something happen offensively, dropping a little bit and trying to play as a traditional number 10.
He linked up well a couple of times in Genoa’s limited offensive transitions, but the team could not make them count.
Jeremy Tolian
Cagliari 1-0 Sassuolo
•20 minutes
•Injured
Bad luck struck the ex-BVB player, as he had to leave the pitch early after a hard clash with Dalbert that ended up with the German right-back dislocating his shoulder.
Ligue 1
Kevin Volland
Rennes 2-3 Monaco
•Full 90
•Assist
The forward maintained his good momentum, playing the full game while creating opportunities for himself and his teammates.
The ex-Bayer Leverkusen forward could not score, but assisted Wissam Ben-Yedder with an excellent header to set up the second goal.
Alexander Nübel
Rennes 2-3 Monaco
•Full game
•2 saves
The keeper wasn't responsible for any of the goals, with one of them being a penalty, but he almost had a 3rd one by clearing the ball to the center of the box after a hard shot from mid-distance.
Ismail Jakobs
Rennes 2-3 Monaco
•Played 12 minutes
•Good defensive presence, especially in the aerial duels.
Liga NOS
Julian Weigl
Sporting CP 0-2 Benfica
•90 minutes
•Good performance
Weigl played a solid match against a hard rival in Sporting. The midfielder controlled the midfield of his team with his accurate passing and good positioning; allowing the game of Benfica to flow and keeping possession when Sporting pressed.
Eredivisie-KNVB Beker
Mario Götze
PSV2-1 Ajax
•90 minutes
•Regular/good game
The 2014 World Champion continues to earn credit to return to Die Mannschaft.
He completed a good game in PSV's comeback against Ajax in the Dutch cup final, He even assisted what would have been the first goal of the match, but it was disallowed by the VAR for offside.
Götze moved the ball around to try to push the attack when possible, trying to give that last pass in the finishing third and moving well in midfield.
He was booked in the last minute of the game.
Phillipp Max
•90 minutes
•Fairly good game
The left-back made good offensive progressions, occupying the spaces well and identifying in which situations he had to attack down the wing and when to come to the inner channels.