Welcome to The Corner, our weekly show that covers news and features from the world of football. Borussia Dortmund appear to be back on track in the
ADVERTISEMENTWelcome to The Corner, our weekly show that covers news and features from the world of football.
Borussia Dortmund appear to be back on track in the Bundesliga, enjoying a 4th consecutive league win while in the Netherlands Ajax cause PSV to stumble.
Only a few weeks back Borussia Dortmund were languishing in the relegation zone.
Not any more.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are on a winning streak and continued their revival with victory over regional rivals Schalke.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put them ahead in the 78th minute before Henrikh Mkhitaryan tapped in from close range a minute later.
Marco Reus made it 3-0 in the 86th for their fourth league win in a row.
Last season’s runners-up are now in tenth position.
Runaway dutch first division leaders PSV Eindhoven suffered a minor setback when they lost to closest title rivals Ajax.
Against the overall run of play and half an hour in Ajax scored first through Ricardo Kishna.
Luuk de Jong leveled matters with a powerful close range header on 77 minutes.
There was an element of luck about Lasse Schone’s goal that put Ajax back in front after his free-kick took a deflection.
But luck had no part in Anwar El Ghazi’s fine solo effort that secured Ajax’s victory in injury-time.
Despite the loss though PSV remain 11 points clear at the top with nine games left.
Up and down
Making our up list this week is Alberto Bueno. The Rayo Vallecano player scored four goals in just 15 first-half minutes to help his side beat Levante 4-2.
His first three goals were a perfect hat-trick – one with his left foot, then his right and then his head.
Also on the up list is Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney.
ADVERTISEMENTHis brace against Sunderland placed him in the Premier League history books as the only player to score ten or more goals in 11 consecutive seasons.
Chelsea are riding high and also are up this week.
The Premier League leaders lifted their first trophy since Jose Mourinho returned as boss last season.
The Blue’s enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win over Tottenham to win the Capital One Cup.
Manchester City feature on our down list this week.
ADVERTISEMENTWith Chelsea in Cup action City missed the chance to close the gap on the Londoners when they lost to Liverpool at Anfield.
The result leaves City five points behind Chelsea in the title race.
On this day
He’s the world’s all-time leading goalscorer in men’s international matches. We’re talking about former Iranian international Ali Daei who, exactly seven years ago to the day, added another milestone achievement to his resume.
On 2 March 2008, Iran ended their lengthy search for a new manager with the surprise appointment of Daei.
ADVERTISEMENTHe replaced Croatian Branko Ivanković
Although Daei presided over only 24 matches, he is fourth in the list of Iran’s longest-serving managers.
Daei had scored a world-best 109 international goals for Iran, but ironically under his guidance the national side had difficulty scoring and failed to qualify the 2010 World Cup.
That resulted in his removal from the post after just over one year, despite a record of 16 wins and 6 draws in 25 matches.
His win record of 64% is the best percentage among Iranian managers with more than 10 matches in charge.
ADVERTISEMENTWe might be wrong
As usual for our ‘we might be wrong’ segment we have chosen some selected fixtures from across the European leagues. Remember that you can send us your predictions using #TheCornerScores.
Atlético de Madrid 2-0 Valencia
Braga 1-2 Porto
Fenerbahçe 2-2 Galatasaray
Bloopers
Furious over his side’s defeat against Bognor Regis and moreover the incessant abuse from the stands behind, goalkeeper of non-league club Kingstonian Rob Tolfrey lost his cool last weekend.
ADVERTISEMENTAlthough it’s no out-of-control Eric Cantona-style kung-fu kick assault his physical challenge on rival fans still makes our bloopers of the week. (see clip above)
Join in on the action and send us your videos using #TheCornerBloopers.