Thursday 21 November 2013


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Mathieu Valbuena's sparkling display helped France overcome their 2-0 first-leg deficit to beat Ukraine 3-0 at the Stade de France on Tuesday evening and earn a place at next summer's World Cup finals. The diminutive attacking midfielder, who himself admitted to a dip in form prior to the international break, will be the creative hub of the OM side at the Stade François Coty with Elie Baup - in his 500th Ligue 1 game - aiming to stretch his team's unbeaten run to three matches.After a run of three straight league losses - and five successive reverses in all competitions - OM stemmed the tide with a draw at Stade Rennais FC before securing a 2-1 victory over FC Sochaux-Montbéliard last time out.
"Before the game against Sochaux, the objective was to pick up the three points, we did that," said Benoît Cheyrou. "Now, not everything was perfect, but the important thing was to win. Before that game we'd been on a catastrophic run, our situation wasn't very comfortable. We had to win because we knew the international break would allow us to work well, recoup some energy and for the international players to be able to focus on other objectives. We head off again on Friday to pick up points in Ajaccio and regain momentum."
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Good omens
The omens are good with OM enjoying a better record in meetings at the Stade François Coty than their Corsican hosts. The Ayew brothers, André and Jordan, both struck in last season's 2-0 win there, though Baup will be without the former this time after he sustained a meniscus injury that requires surgery while on international duty with Ghana; his expected eight-week absence will be keenly felt.
However, Florian Thauvin, whose early opener against Sochaux was his second strike in three league outings, has started to show the sort of form he displayed in Corsica at SC Bastia last season, and though he can expect a raucous welcome, the French Under-21 international will - along with André-Pierre Gignac, the matchwinner against Sochaux - provide most threat to the hosts.
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Instability
It is not only their opponents who have caused Ajaccio problems this season. The abrupt end to Fabrizio Ravanelli's 12-game reign, in which the side won just a single league game, did not help improve stability at a club which has seen three coaches come and go in little more than a season.Interim coach Christian Bracconi's first game in charge ended in a valiant 1-1 draw at Toulouse FC, and the club's former youth academy director must now turn his attention to improving his team's woeful home form. That will surely come if he can give his attack teeth. No team has scored fewer goals this season than Ajaccio, and with not even the excellent Guillermo Ochoa able to keep out everything at the opposite end, Bracconi's men have struggled, and are winless in five.
They will also be without former OM men Ronald Zubar and Benoît Pedretti, who are both injured, hardly welcome absences as they hope to keep the visitors' vaunted attacking talents at bay. "There's Thauvin, Valbuena, Gignac, Payet. They have great attacking potential. They're dangerous," Bracconi explained. "We have to have the intention of going forward, more than merely the players we put in the side. We can't stay up if we don't show more up front, without scoring more goals. We need to be more attacking to put our opponents in danger."
He added: "We're at home, we need points, we need to win. With our spirit and a certain degree of refound confidence, our idea is to get at OM. We absolutely must not allow ourselves to be walked all over at home."
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Probable teams
Ajaccio: Ochoa; Hengbart, Tonucci, Perozo, Bonnart; Pierazzi, Lasne; André, Cavalli, Mutu; Eduardo
Marseille: Mandanda; Abdallah, Nkoulou, Diawara, Morel; Romao, Cheyrou; Thauvin, Valbuena, Payet; J. Ayew

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Munich - FC Bayern München star Franck Ribery has been ruled out of his side's Matchday 13 trip to Borussia Dortmund after picking up an injury on international duty.The Ballon d'Or candidate returned from helping his national side France qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a broken rib and is also a doubt for next Wednesday's UEFA Champions League Matchday 5 trip to PFC CSKA Moskva."It's obviously disappointing," said Ribery, UEFA's Best Player in Europe. "But I'm sure that the team will manage fine without me this time."Here's a look at what may have happened had Franck Ribery been fit for Saturday's Klassiker. All this and much more on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel!

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Algeria captain Madjid Bougherra led by example scoring the decisive goal against Burkina Faso and hand Les Fennecs the final African slot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.Bougherra’s 49th minute effort ensured the Algerians snatched the ticket on the away goal rule after a 3-3 aggregate after both legs.It was a difficult one for the Algerians against a Burkinabe side that were bent on rewriting the history books with their maiden qualification to the biggest stage in world football.At the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida, Les Fennecs finally rose to the occasion and gave their fans a good cause to cheer with the hard fought victory.After a barren first half which saw Les Etalons give their hosts serious concerns after matching them boot for boot, Les Fennecs started the second half still in search of their opener.


Wednesday 20 November 2013


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MLS newcomers Orlando City target Kaka signing
Major Soccer League's newest franchise Orlando City have suggested they might try to lure Brazilian footballer Kaka to the Florida club.The Lions will enter the MLS for the 2015 season with midfielder Kaka's deal at AC Milan set to end that year."Every team would love to have Kaka, but we have no agreement with him," Orlando's Brazilian co-owner Flavio Augusto da Silva told BBC Sport."We have a plan to sign a Brazilian star in 2015. This is our priority."He added: "It might be Kaka or somebody else."The club, set to become the 21st MLS franchise, is managed by former Everton striker Adrian Heath and is currently competing at minor league level.

 

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Orlando City's other co-owner, who is also the founder and president, is Phil Rawlins, a director at Stoke."It is a dream to bring Major League Soccer to Orlando," said Rawlins."The fans in Orlando have clearly demonstrated that they are ready for MLS, and we look forward to celebrating with them and working together to set a new standard in this country."We have watched the evolution of Major League Soccer, and we are thrilled to join what has become one of the fastest growing and most exciting leagues in the world."The MLS currently has 19 teams, with New York City - which is a joint venture between Manchester City and baseball giants New York Yankees - also set to join the division in 2015 as the 20th competitor.Former England midfielder David Beckham played at LA Galaxy and has stated his intention to set up a MLS franchise in Miami.The league hopes to expand to 24 clubs by 2020.

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Uruguay became the last nation to book their spot at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil with a 0-0 second-leg draw against play-off opponents Jordan.Uruguay had all but secured their berth with a 5-0 victory in the first leg.Uruguay dominated a goalless first half in the return leg in Montevideo and came closest to scoring when Diego Godin headed against the crossbar."We're all happy because the truth is it's been a hard road," said striker Edinson Cavani.Uruguay were competing in the World Cup qualifying play-offs for the fourth successive tournament, but knew it would take a miraculous effort for Jordan to overturn a 5-0 deficit,The South American nation, who are currently ranked sixth in the world, boast a rich World Cup pedigree having won the trophy in 1930 and 1950 and also reached the semi-finals last time out in South Africa.
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But Oscar Tabarez's men finished fifth in their continent's qualifying after being edged out of the automatic places by Ecuador on goal difference.It meant they were forced to negotiate a two-legged tie against a Jordan side, who had beaten Uzbekistan in Asian qualifying to reach the play-off.However, with Liverpool striker Luis Suarez partnered up front by Paris St-Germain's £55m striker Cavani, they were always likely to have too much firepower for the Middle East nation.Jordan, who have never appeared at the World Cup finals, are ranked 64 places below Uruguay in the world.
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 Didier Deschamps (France coach): “It’s fabulous, especially after what happened in the first leg as we turned the situation around. The players deserve all the credit as they’ve done something great. It’s a source of great satisfaction to the players, the coaching staff and to French football as a whole. We needed to score but also to keep our balance and the three players selected in midfield allowed us to achieve that. I’m proud of the players and they can be proud of themselves for having fulfilled the objective. I was a player once and I know that it’s players who write history. I’ve got a squad and a team and in this game it worked well, although that’s not to say I’ll play like that every time. We’ve also performed well with a different system. The system has a certain importance but above all it’s a question of what you put in.”v
DESCHAMPS PRIDE AT LES BLEUS QUALIFICATION


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Didier Deschamps (France coach): "It's fabulous, especially after what happened in the first leg as we turned the situation around. The players deserve all the credit as they've done something great. It's a source of great satisfaction to the players, the coaching staff and to French football as a whole. We needed to score but also to keep our balance and the three players selected in midfield allowed us to achieve that. I'm proud of the players and they can be proud of themselves for having fulfilled the objective. I was a player once and I know that it's players who write history. I've got a squad and a team and in this game it worked well, although that's not to say I'll play like that every time. We've also performed well with a different system. The system has a certain importance but above all it's a question of what you put in."

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Mamadou Sakho (France defender): "There's pure happiness and we've written a page in French football history with this. A lot of people didn't believe in us but there were also plenty who did. France showed a lot of virtues and it was extraordinary for everybody. I don't see myself as a hero; the team was the hero in this one. I'd never previously scored a double in my career. We're going to Brazil and we have to take on board the lessons from all of our matches, not just this one."
Franck Ribéry (France midfielder): "It's magnificent and extraordinary. The supporters played their part. There had been a lot of sadness in the past and this is great. I hadn't seen the Stade de France like that for a long time. We suffered a setback in Ukraine but we reacted. We're happy and we can now go back to our clubs and think about Brazil. Being knocked out would have been very hard."
Yohan Cabaye (France midfielder): "We came in for a lot of flak in recent days and we responded in the best possible way on the field. It's possibly the happiest moment of my career and the team played a great game."

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Mykhaïl Fomenko (Ukraine coach): "I've got a lot of regrets. Our psychological approach wasn't good. We needed to be ready and I don't think we were. We made mistakes in defence and didn't play the way I wanted us to. The French put in a lot and were backed up by their fans. I would like to thank my players nevertheless for their work during the qualifiers and I want to carry on as national coach."
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Brazil were in control, but failed to create further clear openings in the first half. A poor header from Vargas, volleyed just over by Jô, was the closest they came to a second goal before the interval.If González was at fault for the opener, the defender atoned for his error early in the second half, with a stretched clearance denying Paulinho a tap-in. From the resulting corner, Hulk shot just over.Neymar was growing increasingly impossible for Chile to shackle. His forward drive created another opening for Paulinho. The midfielder’s shot was pushed out by Bravo, with Oscar unable to convert the rebound.Chile had struggled to test Júlio César, yet on 70 minutes they drew level. Bravo’s long goal-kick was flicked on by Beausejour. The ball fell to Vargas. The Grêmio forward’s control was instant, his finish unstoppable.
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Defensive reinforcements

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Dropping like flies

Dortmund’s season, however, had not even started when they suffered their first setback as Lukasz Piszczek belatedly went under the knife to rectify a troublesome hip injury. Fortunately, Klopp was able to call on utility man Kevin Großkreutz to plug a hole he had filled in the past, allowing Dortmund to move swiftly on, confident the preceding season's ills had been resolved. Sure enough, die Schwarzgelben stole an early, albeit narrow, march on Bayern, winning their first five league matches - but the smiles would not last. A season-ending knee injury toNeven Subotic was merely the precursor to far graver news: BVB would have to prepare for one of their biggest games of the season, der Klassiker, without defensive duo Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer - both injured on international duty. Capture

Improvisation in the Klassiker

As far as viable replacements are concerned, Erik Durm would ideally join Sokratis and Großkreutz in Dortmund’s makeshift back four. Even he could miss out on Saturday, though, after picking up a knee injury on duty with Germany’s Under-21s, while new recruit Manuel Friedrich suffered the same fate in midweek, leaving midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, 19-year-old Koray Günther, 18-year-old Marian Sarr and Oliver Kirch (31) as Klopp’s remaining candidates for a starting berth. "We're disappointed that our entire back line from last year is out, but we've got to live with it," BVB’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told Sport1. Dortmund only have to keep Mario Mandzukic, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Mario Götze and Thomas Müller at bay after all. Three days later, Klopp’s patchwork XI must then beat SSC Napoli to keep their Champions League hopes alive. Clearly, BVB's current injury crisis could hardly have come at a more inopportune moment in the battle to dethrone Bundesliga and European kings Bayern.

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Greece’s qualification in numbers
1,080 – The number of minutes goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis played during the qualification campaign. He was the only Greek to play every minute of the team’s 12 matches. Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was the outfield player with the most playing time, going the distance in 11 matches to rack up 990 minutes. Third was full-back Vasilis Torosidis, who managed 972 minutes.
27 The average age of the 32 players used by Santos in the 12 qualification matches. The oldest was midfielder Georgios Karagounis at 36, with Charalampos Mavrias the youngest at just 19. Only six players were 30 or above, though Mavrias was the only U-20.
22 Greece’s defensive approach was underscored by their tough tackling. The team collected 22 yellow cards in their 12 matches, as well as two reds (both for second bookable offences).
16 Bosnia-Herzegovina’s superior margin of goal difference over Greece in Group G, relegating Santos’ side to second place and a two-legged play-off with Romania for a place in Brazil.
7 The number of different players who got on the scoresheet for Greece in their 12 qualifiers. Between them they managed 16 goals, underlining the team’s goalscoring threat from various areas of the field. Konstantinos Mitroglou struck the most with five, netting three in the two play-off matches against Romania. Dimitrios Salpingidis followed on four goals, while Theofanis Gekas got two and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Sotiris Ninis, Georgios Karagounis and Nikos Spriopoulos all chipped in with one. Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel’s own goal completes the tally.
5 Half of Greece’s ten group games were won by a scoreline of 1-0, evoking memories of the defensive solidity they perfected under Otto Rehhagel at UEFA EURO 2004. The Greeks kept three more clean sheets in qualifying but never won by more than a two-goal margin.
4 The number of goals that keeper Orestis Karnezis conceded during the group stage. Only Spain (three) shipped fewer. In the two play-off matches against Romania he conceded another two, taking the total to six across the 12 qualification matches. At the other end of the field the team managed to score 12 goals during the group stage and a further four in the play-offs, making their total of 16 goals the joint-worst of any of the nations to have qualified, along with Croatia.
3 The number of years Fernando Santos has been at the helm. He succeeded Otto Rehhagel, who led the country to glory at EURO 2004 in Portugal. Santos can already look back on a number of his own successes, including taking his side to the 2012 UEFA European Championship, where they went out to Germany in the quarter-finals, not to mention next summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
Have your say
With Greece aiming to go one better than their previous attempts and survive the group stage at Brazil 2014, we want to know whether you think they can. Write your opinion below, remembering to keep it clean, on topic and in English…

We Love Football Most: Kwesi Appiah – with support local coaches can perf...: Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah says that local coaches need to be given a chance to prove their worth and he and Nigeria’s Stephen Keshi have ...

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Tuesday 19 November 2013


The battle for the final World Cup ticket from Africa will be decided later on Tuesday 19 November between hosts Algeria and Burkina Faso at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida, where Algeria have not lost in 19 matches since 2002.The two sides played a friendly match in June, at the same venue with Algeria winning 2-0 but on Tuesday the stakes are higher and Algeria need to overturn a 3-2 loss from the first leg playoff played last month in Ouagadougou.Algeria are favoured to win, but ex-skipper Anthar Yahia told the media ahead of the match that all talk amounts to nothing as matters will be settled on the pitch "Algeria will be the favourites to win going by their record against Burkina Faso. This is what the media have suggested, but the most important thing is really what happens on the pitch," said Esperance of Tunisia defender Yahia.
"Burkina Faso reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations and they have proved to be a very good team. They only need a draw to qualify and so it could be difficult for Algeria, who also need to be cautious when going forward."The Stallions of Burkina Faso arrived in Algiers on Sunday 17 November before proceeding to match venue Blida. Algerian coach, Vahid Halihodzic was quoted in local press saying he is confident of an Algeria win and was pleased with his charges’ performance in the first leg where he thought The Desert Foxes were unfortunate to come away with a loss. Burkinabe coach Paul Put welcomes the Alain Traore, the playmaker who sparked Burkina Faso’s fine run at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations with stellar performances in the opening matches before injury put paid his tournament. Traore’s combination with Jonathan Pitroipa made The Stallions a formidable side and Paul Put will be hoping to rekindle some of that magic in Blida. Alain Traore has however not played for the national side since the injury he picked up at AFCON and although the quality of the 24-year-old striker is not in doubt Burkina Faso will wait to see how much of an impact he will have.

Hart was England's outstanding performer, saving superbly from Mertesacker before his goal and from Marco Reus and Mario Gotze in the second half.It was a night when Hart repaid Hodgson's public faith in him and confirmed his status as England's undisputed number one. It could also prove to be a turning point for the keeper as he tries to regain confidence lost over a long spell of indifferent form.Few others on Hodgson's England undercard made compelling claims to move to the forefront of his thoughts for Brazil as the final whistle was greeted by boos from the Wembley crowd for the second time in a matter of days.And while Hodgson will, understandably, regard this game as another fact-finding exercise rather than one where victory was essential, it was still a sobering night as England barely troubled Germany keeper Roman Weidenfeller.Hodgson's men struggled against a Germany team missing a host of key players such as Mesut Ozil, Philipp Lahm and first-choice keeper Manuel Neuer.
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England have one game left, the Wembley friendly with Denmark in March, before Hodgson names his squad for Brazil.They enjoyed plenty of possession in a tight first half - but the contributions that mattered came late in the half and came from Germany.Hart had been given a quiet England reintroduction but reacted brilliantly six minutes before the interval to save Mertesacker's header only for the Arsenal defender to make no mistake with an identical chance moments later, rising between Wayne Rooney and Chris Smalling to score.And Hart distinguished himself once more just after the break when sleight of foot from Gotze set up Reus but the keeper was alert once more to make an important block.Hodgson, as expected made changes, with Kieran Gibbs replacing Ashley Cole and Jordan Henderson coming on for captain and Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard to freshen up England's performance.Germany were still dangerous on the counter but England came closest just before the hour when Townsend, as he likes to do, cut in from the right and hit a low left-foot shot that beat Weidenfeller but struck the post.Hart was in action once more to save from Gotze, although he had one anxious moment when he collided with the hesitant Smalling.Hodgson introduced Jack Wilshere, Ross Barkley and Rickie Lambert as England chased an equaliser but Germany survived in comfort and England were condemned to defeat once more.



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Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina insists Brazil are “obligated to win the World Cup” next summer.“They are playing at home, they are a strong team and the pressure will be on them,” he said, as reported by Inside Spanish Football.“[Brazil] are obligated to win the World Cup because they are the best team right now.”Reina was speaking ahead of Spain’s friendly with South Africa on Tuesday. La Furia Roja will return to the Soccer City stadium where they defeated Netherlands 1-0 to win the 2010 World Cup.Reina, who has 30 caps for Spain, is currently on loan at Napoli from Liverpool. The 31 year-old’s made 16 appearances, keeping five clean sheets.
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Seven Bundesliga stars have made the 23-man shortlist for this year'sFIFA Ballon d'Or, no fewer than six of them from German and European champions FC Bayern München alone.Among their number is Bastian Schweinsteiger, and the 29-year-old midfielder's nomination for the prestigious award bears testimony to a remarkable return to peak form over the past year.

Back with a bang

After missing a penalty that opened the door to Chelsea FC's UEFA Champions League shoot-out victory at the Allianz Arena, and looking a shadow of his normal self for Germany at the subsequent EURO 2012 finals, Schweinsteiger was put on his own special R&R programme by Bayern's head coach at the time, Jupp Heynckes. Schweinsteiger returned all the stronger for it, the deep-lying linchpin of a team who swept all before them on the way to a record-breaking Bundesliga title success, capping off the campaign with a redemptive Champions League triumph and a DFB Cup victory that secured an historic treble for good measure.
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More than a holding midfielder

Consistently the player seeing most of the ball in a Bayern side striding from one league best-mark to the next, Schweinsteiger chipped in with seven goals and four assists as well - a very respectable return for a nominal holding midfielder. In truth, of course, he is much more than that, as evidenced not least by the more overtly attacking role he has taken up so far under new coach Pep Guardiola.For the 100-time Germany international, it could well be the start of another new phase in an already distinguished career, fusing his qualities as part of the shield in front of the defence with his earlier experience as a wide attacking midfielder, the position in which he first made his name.

"Best midfielder in the world"

Currently sidelined in the wake of surgery for an ongoing ankle problem, Schweinsteiger should be back fully fit in time for the season restart in January. Having by his own admission played through the opening weeks of the campaign in considerable discomfort, his return in peak condition is a happy prospect indeed for fans of the record champions. For Heynckes - himself in the running for the World Coach of the Year award - the local hero with the No31 shirt is simply the “best midfielder in the world.” If the FIFA judging panel takes the same view, the Ballon d'Or will be Schweinsteiger's.

The Bundesliga's other men in contention for the Ballon d'Or 2013:

Thomas Müller Philipp Lahm Franck Ribery Arjen Robben Robert Lewandowski

Seven Bundesliga stars have made the 23-man shortlist for this year'sFIFA Ballon d'Or, no fewer than six of them from German and European champions FC Bayern München alone.
Among their number is Bastian Schweinsteiger, and the 29-year-old midfielder's nomination for the prestigious award bears testimony to a remarkable return to peak form over the past year.

Back with a bang


After missing a penalty that opened the door to Chelsea FC's UEFA Champions League shoot-out victory at the Allianz Arena, and looking a shadow of his normal self for Germany at the subsequent EURO 2012 finals, Schweinsteiger was put on his own special R&R programme by Bayern's head coach at the time, Jupp Heynckes. 

Schweinsteiger returned all the stronger for it, the deep-lying linchpin of a team who swept all before them on the way to a record-breaking Bundesliga title success, capping off the campaign with a redemptive Champions League triumph and a DFB Cup victory that secured an historic treble for good measure.

More than a holding midfielder


Consistently the player seeing most of the ball in a Bayern side striding from one league best-mark to the next, Schweinsteiger chipped in with seven goals and four assists as well - a very respectable return for a nominal holding midfielder. In truth, of course, he is much more than that, as evidenced not least by the more overtly attacking role he has taken up so far under new coach Pep Guardiola.

For the 100-time Germany international, it could well be the start of another new phase in an already distinguished career, fusing his qualities as part of the shield in front of the defence with his earlier experience as a wide attacking midfielder, the position in which he first made his name. 

"Best midfielder in the world"


Currently sidelined in the wake of surgery for an ongoing ankle problem, Schweinsteiger should be back fully fit in time for the season restart in January. Having by his own admission played through the opening weeks of the campaign in considerable discomfort, his return in peak condition is a happy prospect indeed for fans of the record champions. 

For Heynckes - himself in the running for the World Coach of the Year award - the local hero with the No31 shirt is simply the “best midfielder in the world.” If the FIFA judging panel takes the same view, the Ballon d'Or will be Schweinsteiger's.

The Bundesliga's other men in contention for the Ballon d'Or 2013:

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