EL TRICOLOR STAR FINISHES WITH IMPRESSIVE SHOWING
BY DOMINIC PASTEINER
In another busy weekend for Mexico’s soccer stars across the European leagues, Bayer Leverkusen’s striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernández scored his first club hat-trick as his side returned to form in stunning fashion with a 5-0 demolition of Borussia Monchengladbach at the BayArena.
Stephan Kießling opened the scoring for the home side with a simple header from close range after 30 minutes. The German international then turned provider 15 minutes into the second half, his neat back-heel allowing Hernández to tiptoe his way through the Monchengladbach defense and poke home his first of the evening. Just three minutes later it was 3-0, Kießling slamming home a bullet of a header following a corner. Hernández then scored the goal of the match. Picking the ball up on the edge of the penalty area, the Mexican turned brilliantly before placing a beautiful curling effort inside the far post. The former Manchester United soon had his third of the evening, and 15th of the season, when he tappen into an open net following a strong run from Karim Bellarabi. The result propels Leverkusen up into sixth position in the Bundesliga standings ahead of the month-long winter break, 19 points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
In Spain’s La Liga, Jonathan dos Santos played the entire match for Villarreal as his side recorded an impressive 1-0 win over Real Madrid. Indeed, the 25-year-old El Tricolor star had already struck the inside of the post with a 20 yard drive when Roberto Soldado scored after just eight minutes. Despite having 20 efforts on goal, Real Madrid were unable to find the equalizer as the “Yellow Submarine” held on to record a famous victory. Elsewhere, Carlos Vela and Diego Reyes both started for Real Sociedad in their side’s 1-1 draw with Getafe, with Reyes being involved in La Real’s second half equalizer. The weekend results see Barcelona stay top of the standings, despite giving away a two goal lead in their 2-2 draw with Deportivo La Coruña at the Nou Camp. Atletico Madrid are level on points with the defending champions after a 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao, with Real Madrid five points further back. Villarreal move up to fifth position, with Real Sociedad 13th.
In the Dutch Eredivisie, Hector Moreno and Andrés Guardado both played as PSV Eindhoven recorded a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Roda JC. PSV went behind in controversial circumstances after 50 minutes when Tomi Juric stabbed home Edwin Gyasi’s cross. The goal stood although replays revealed that Gyasi had been comfortably offside in the build up. PSV found an equalizer after 74 minutes when Masato Morishige headead in Guardado’s free- kick, but the home side were forced to settle for just a point. League leaders Ajax failed to capitalize on their rival’s slip-up as they succombed to a 1-0 defeat at Utrecht. Fellow title hopefuls Feyenoord also failed to win after drawing 1-1 with Groningen, meaning that Ajax remain two points clear at the top of the table.