Dortmund and Tuchel enjoy winning return at Mainz
Borussia Dortmund got back to winning ways on Friday with a 2-0
victory at Mainz 05, as coach Thomas Tuchel returned to his former club.
It was the first time Tuchel had been back to the Coface Arena since quitting as Mainz boss at the end of the 2013-14 season.
German international Marco Reus opened the scoring for Dortmund after
18 minutes, but then missed a penalty just after half-time.
Armenian striker Henrik Mkhitaryan made the points safe for the
visitors when he converted Dortmund’s second goal on 82 minutes as news
of the club’s former coach Jurgen Klopp dominated European football news
in the buildup.
Klopp, who led Dortmund to back-to-back German titles in 2011 and
2012, as well as the 2013 Champions League final, takes charge of
Liverpool on Saturday in his English debut at Tottenham.
With Tuchel very much the new man in favour at Dortmund, Friday’s
victory ended a poor run of two draws and a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of
Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena a fortnight ago.
Dortmund move within four points of Bayern, having played a game
more, while Mainz slip to ninth after their fifth defeat of the
campaign.
Dortmund’s Gabon winger Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to extend
his record run of having scored in all previous eight league games this
season.
Bayern put their perfect record of eight wins from eight matches on
the line away to Werder Bremen in the pick of Saturday’s fixtures while
Schalke and Hertha Berlin meet in a battle of third and fourth-placed
sides.
Rafael rescues draw for Lyon at ten-man Monaco
Pellegrini slams Belgium over Kompany call-up
Former Manchester United defender Rafael salvaged a 1-1 draw with an
85th minute equaliser for Lyon at ten-man Monaco in Ligue 1 action on
Friday.
The 25-year-old right-back, who spent seven years at Old Trafford and
won three Premier League titles, came to the rescue as Monaco failed to
hang on to their 39th-minute lead.
“I’m happy to get the goal but we’re a bit disappointed that we didn’t push on and get the win,” said Rafael.
“The goal will give us some energy for the Champions League next week
but we paid the price for a poor first half and a lack of rhythm.”
Croatian international Mario Pasalic poached the opening goal for the
home side six minutes before half-time following a corner from Thomas
Lemar and a mistake by Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.
The 20-year-old Pasalic, who is on loan from English champions
Chelsea, planted his header past the embarrassed Lopes and put Leonardo
Jardim’s side in front.
Monaco, who came into the match with a record of 10 victories and
five draws against Lyon, appeared to be well on their way to improving
that statistic before Rafael’s first goal for the club.
The task for Monaco to protect their lead was compromised with 24
minutes left when Brazilian defender Wallace was shown a straight red
card for a horror tackle on Algerian winger Rachid Ghezzal.
Then came Rafael’s equaliser and a welcome boost for Hubert
Fournier’s men who now travel to Russia on Tuesday and a key Champions
League tie against Zenit St Petersburg.
Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain put their undefeated start to the
season on the line in the Saturday afternoon match at Bastia while
Angers and Caen, who are the surprise rivals to Laurent Blanc’s side and
five points back, are also on the road.
Promoted Angers travel to fourth-from-bottom Toulouse while Normandy
outfit Caen travel to the Champagne region and a fixture against Reims.
Marseille will have a section of their Velodrome stadium closed tosupporters, following crowd trouble in the league match against Lyonlast month, as they await Lorient in one of three Sunday fixtures thatalso feature high-scoring Nice at Rennes and Bordeaux at home toMontpellier in a battle of former champions.
Pellegrini had insisted City’s captain would not be fit for either of
the games against Andorra or Israel, but Wilmots fielded him in the
latter fixture.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has criticised Belgium
coach Marc Wilmots’ decision to play Vincent Kompany in this week’s
final Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Kompany was called up for international duty despite missing City’s last five games with a calf injury.
The 29-year-old defender came through 58 minutes of action unscathed, yet Pellegrini was still not happy.
“I was not pleased because we sent Vincent with some medical report
that he was not able to play but, as the manager of Belgium said, he can
do what he wants in the international break. He can use the players and
he wanted to use him,” Pellegrini said on Friday.
“But for me, when you don’t send a player to the national squad and
you cannot use him for your club, I think the other sense must be the
same. If a player didn’t play the last three games for his club he
cannot play for the national squad.
“But these are the rules. I think some day clubs will protest about that.”
Pellegrini insisted this had not led to a problem between him and
Kompany, but would not confirm whether the defender would return to his
starting line-up when the Premier League leaders face Bournemouth on
Saturday.
“There is not a problem with him. I think it was important for
Vincent to work a complete week before he played and he couldn’t do it
because he played for Belgium,” Pellegrini added.
“We will have to see in the future when he can return to his position.”
Pellegrini also confirmed City’s Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is likely to be out at least a month.
Aguero, who scored five goals on his last City appearance against Newcastle, suffered a hamstring injury on international duty.
“Sergio has a muscle injury. I think it is an important injury, so I
don’t think he will be back before one month,” Pellegrini said.
‘New One’ Effenberg gets first one for Paderborn
Former German international Stefan Effenberg enjoyed a winning start
to his coaching career on Friday when his Paderborn team defeated
Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 in the second division.
“I am very happy and delighted to see the smiles on the face of the
president and all the fans,” the 47-year-old told Sky television.
“I haven’t had the chance to shout over the last 10 years. I will have to get used to it.”
The former Bayern Munich star had been working as a TV pundit before
taking on a coaching job for the first time, announcing himself as “The
New One” when he was unveiled to the media this week.