THE FOOTBALL BLOG

Hoffenheim continued their remarkable season under their young managerial hotshot, Julian Nagelsmann, by brushing aside Hertha Berlin 3-1 on Friday night. The win now means Die Kraichgauer have collected their most ever Bundesliga points in a season, plus moves them into third place on the table..

Riccardo Marchizza is one of the most promising Italian centre fullbacks around. He has excellent physical and technical qualities: He has a solid build, almost two metres tall, combined with a highly accurate left foot that often manages to find the back of the net. In three years on the youth team, he has already scored 16 goals, a few of which on free kicks..

It's been fascinating to observe Raheem Sterling's development under the tactically sophisticated methods of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Having a youngster with such raw talent, who he's been able to mould and further improve, has seen Guardiola really, especially in recent months, get the best of the enormously gifted 22-year-old.

The Wyscout report on the 29th day of Serie A takes Milan to the top of the rankings for performance. The 1-0 win against Genoa can be seen as an emblem of the tactical project set up by Vincenzo Montella because of the principles of play and the improvement margins that separate the "Diavolo" from the top spots in the rankings..

It might happen that coaches want to control the game at the point that it’s not straightforward anymore. Above all and in my view, the game of football is a “living organism” that some coaches do not let happen naturally, like what happens in street football, where in any space creativity is found and made to be found..

There's no doubting Jonathan Viera has been one of Las Palmas' key driving forces in their strong season so far. Under the guidance and positional style of play of manager Quique Setien, his attacking genius has really thrived and animated Los Amarillos' work in the final third..

With Marseille struggling for consistency this season, their impressive 3-0 victory over Angers at the weekend gave a glowing indication of just how good Rudi Garcia's side can be when they get things right..

Since the second San Paolo goal was considered an own goal by Dries Mertens, it cannot be said that Sergio Ramos has become the defender able to score the most goals with the Real Madrid jersey. With 67 goals from 2005..

Very few teams in the world are as dangerous as Real Madrid in counter-attack. The technical and athletic dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale obviously plays a key role, but Real's counter-attack would not be as effective without Karim Benzema..

Sebastian Rudy has unquestionably been one of the key driving forces behind Hoffenheim's excellent Bundesliga campaign so far under budding young manager Julian Nagelsmann. And in his side's domineering 5-2 win against Ingolstadt on the weekend..

Alessandro Rossi promises to continue the long tradition of Italian centre forwards who combine effort and substance. He hasn't scored since 21 January, exactly one month ago, and yet he is still the top goalscorer in the Italian U19 Group A, and he has maintained an average of 1 goal..

Antonio Conte wanted him at Chelsea, but Radja Nainggolan stayed with Roma to establish himself as one of the most interesting midfielders on the international scene. And not only. In the new 3-4-2-1 formation enacted by Luciano Spalletti, he is managing to emerge as a true..

In the match between Seville and Villarreal, with the home team dominating the ball, Villarreal had in Manu Trigueros the player with the difficult job of maintain possession after recovering the ball..

Only some teams manage to create a sufficient temporary spatial advantage for coming out to play, with quality, in the 1st building-up phase..