Forget drainpipe jeans and ever-so-trendy ‘emo’ hairdoes, white iPod earphones or expensive mobile phones. The ultimate must-have fashion accessory on the European footballing scene this week is a striker with a daft nickname and rubbish hair. And where better to go for such an item than Argentina?
The stars of the selección have starred for their clubs this weekend. Most notably, the goalscoring exploits of Hernán ‘Valdanito‘ Crespo (‘Little Valdano’) and Lionel ‘La Pulga‘ Messi (‘The Flea’), who helped Inter and Barcelona to, respectively, a 2-0 win over Parma and a 2-1 win over Deportivo La Coruña. Then there was Carlos ‘Apache‘ Tevez, who’s clearly got the hang of the London buses - after waiting six months for his first goal in England, he now has three in three matches, the latest in West Ham’s 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough.
As well as these, in positions further back on the pitch, Javier Mascherano impressed quietly for Liverpool as they demolished Arsenal 4-1 with a hat-trick from returning beanpole Peter Crouch. Fernando Gago and Gonzalo Higuaín both played starring roles – apparently, because I didn’t catch any of this match – in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Real Betis (Higuaín setting up the winner for Robinho), and Roberto Ayala collapsed towards the end of Valencia’s 3-2 win over Espanyol, a delayed reaction to two nasty challenges he’d been on the receiving end of earlier in the second half. He’s recovering well.
Even the less well-known names got in on the act, Federico Insúa heading an equaliser for Borussia Monchengladbach against Eintracht Frankfurt which turned out to be the game’s last goal – it finished 1-1.
Photo nicked from telegraph.co.uk
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