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| | Week 24 Spotlight: Gonzalez the Great | Thursday 9 February, 2006 |
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 Player of the Week: Gonzalez (Palermo)
Mariano Gonzalez capped another fine performance for Palermo on Wednesday night with the opening goal and two assists in his side’s convincing 3-1 win over Lazio.
The game was only 12 minutes old when the Argentine midfielder pounced on a cross to give his side the lead with his second League goal of the season – and the second against Lazio this year.
In the 55th minute the 24-year-old then sped away on a mazy run, leaving Valon Behrami for dead before setting up substitute Giovanni Tedesco for his first hometown club goal since joining last month.
Ten minutes later, the match was over as a contest after the ubiquitous Gonzalez cut the ball back for Andrea Caracciolo to score from 12 yards.
Gonzalez may yet prove to be one of Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini’s shrewdest signings.
The South American first made his mark on the consciousness of Italian football followers during the 2004 Olympic Games when his goal for Argentina effectively knocked out Claudio Gentile’s Azzurrini in the semi-finals as Argentina won their way to Olympic gold.
After a second successful season with Racing Club in Argentina, in which he scored nine goals in 32 matches, the attacking midfielder came to Sicily at the start of last season and immediately won the confidence of Coach Luigi Del Neri in the summer.
Unfortunately for Del Neri, Gonzalez’s development as a player came too late to save his job, but new Coach Giuseppe Papadopulo is already beginning to reap the rewards.
In Papadopulo’s first game in charge of the Rosanero, the international scored twice in the historic 3-0 Coppa win over Milan and more influential performances like last night’s will almost certainly launch Gonzalez on to greater things.
It is no surprise that clubs have already begun to show an interest in the attacking threat from Tandil, but this time around Zamparini is in no mood to make the same mistake he made with Luca Toni.
"Inter have asked me about Gonzalez," said Zamparini recently. "But I have chosen to hold on to him."
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Goal of the Week: Recoba (Inter)
We may have seen it time and time again but that shouldn’t make Recoba’s free-kick party-piece any less impressive. On as a substitute and making little impact on the game, the Uruguayan suddenly gave his side a chance of avoiding defeat against Fiorentina with five minutes to go. A full 25 yards out and from a tight angle to the right of the penalty area, El Chino curled the ball at speed with his cultured left foot beyond a helpless Bogdan Lobont and into the net off the far post. |
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Number of the Week: 165
The number of goals Andriy Shevchenko has scored for Milan. With last night’s brace Sheva overtook Gianni Rivera’s long-standing tally to became Milan’s second highest ever goalscorer, behind Gunnar Nordahl, who remains top with 221. “I am very happy to have reached this milestone,” he said. “I’d like to thank my teammates who have set up so many chances for me over the last few years.” |
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| Words: Richard Aikman |
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