European football: Heroes from the weekend across the major leagues

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney of Manchester United in action with Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal the Barclays Premier League Match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on November 10, 2013 in Manchester, England.

If you were to take all the energy expended by Wayne Rooney in yesterday’s game against Arsenal, and use it to create electricity, you could possibly light up an entire village. The England striker was up for it from the get go and chased down every ball, got back to defend when required, drove the attacks forward from the front and overall covered so much of the Old Trafford pitch, that you would understand if he retired the pair of boots that he wore yesterday from action.

His corner found his partner Robin van Persie for the all-important goal that inflicted just a second defeat on league leaders Arsenal and helped bump United up the table to fifth, just five points behind the Gunners.

It didn’t seem likely that Rooney would be playing in a red shirt this season after news of him wanting a move to Chelsea emerged in the summer, but credit must be given to David Moyes for not only managing to keep Rooney at Old Trafford, but also get the best out of the talismanic striker.

Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez of Liverpool in action during the Barclays Premier League Match between Liverpool and Fulham at Anfield on November 9, 2013 in Liverpool, England

FACT – Luis Suarez missed the first five games of the season due to suspension. FACT – Luis Suarez has scored 8 goals in 6 games since returning. FACT – Luis Suarez is now joint top scorer with Sergio Aguero and Daniel Sturridge, who have both played more games.

The only way to try and explain that is by saying that Suarez is a genius and a striker who is in the peak of his career. It is no surprise that Real Madrid and Arsenal wanted to prize him away from Anfield. Sturridge may have scored goals in Suarez’s absence to help fire Liverpool into the upper reaches of the table, but with Suarez in the side, Liverpool are a completely different animal.

At his current scoring rate, he could definitely go on to claim the Golden Boot which he missed out on last season.

Adam Lallana

Adam Lallana of Southampton celebrates after scoring during the Barclays Premier League match between Southampton and Hull City at St Mary’s Stadium on November 9, 2013 in Southampton, England

There are ways to celebrating a call-up to play for your country, and there are ways to celebrating a call-up to play for your country!

Adam Lallana, picked by Roy Hodgson in his squad for England’s two upcoming friendlies, put on a man of the match performance for the Saints against Hull City which included a delightful individual goal that lit up the entire weekend and one that stands a good chance of going into the Goal of the Season contender bucket.

He has been Southampton’s best player of the season and with big games against Arsenal and Manchester United coming up over the next month, Southampton and Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping that Lallana can maintain the same sort of form.

Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich’s German striker Thomas Mueller (R) celebrates his goal with Bayern Munich’s French midfielder Franck Ribery and Bayern Munich’s Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben during German first division Bundesliga football match FC Bayern Munich vs FC Augsburg in the southern German city of Munich on November 9, 2013

They worked like a ‘well-oiled machine’ is an oft repeated cliché to describe systems and teams that produce results with ruthless efficiency and unfailing consistency. Bayern Munich come very close to defining that ‘well-oiled machine’.

There was talk that Pep Guardiola’s arrival would mean that Bayern would start playing like Barcelona. It is not entirely untrue, for Guardiola has introduced a system of play where Bayern are keeping possession a whole lot more. But Guardiola is a smart man, and hasn’t mindlessly gone about re-jigging the entire system at Bayern.

He has built on the strong foundations set up by Jupp Heynckes and the ingrained solidity in the team and added a touch of Spanish La Masia football school to it.

Bayern beat Augsburg 3-0 over the weekend to register to make it 37 games without a loss in the Bundseliga breaking the previous record of 36 set by Hamburg. Relentless.

Son Heung-Min

Leverkusen’s South Korean striker Heung Min Son reacts after the German first division Bundesliga football match Bayer Leverkusen vs Hamburger SV in the German city of Leverkusen

It was a weekend for hat-tricks as Bayer Leverkusen’s Korean striker Son also scored a hat-trick to power Leverkusen to a 5-3 win in a crazy game that saw eight goals.

The Korean striker was in fact poached from their opponents on the day, Hamburg, in the summer and he came back to haunt his old side with a well taken hat-trick.

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard of Chelsea scores the equaliser from the penalty spot during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge

The Belgian was dropped for Chelsea’s midweek Champions League fixture by Jose Mourinho for missing training due to some carelessness on his part and what a moment it was when it was the Belgian who stepped up to take a penalty that would go on to prevent Mourinho’s perfect home record as Chelsea manager from being destroyed.

Hazard slotted home coolly from the spot to bring Chelsea level, and putting aside the somewhat fortuitous nature of the penalty, was Chelsea’s best player in a game where the Blues outfit looked average at best.