| The
boy is back! Javi Moreno finally won his place back in the side after spending
a month on the sidelines with an injury and another two weeks on the bench, and
he celebrated in style, scoring twice as his team went on to beat Racing 5-1.
Moreno's return to form is very timely, with Alavés due to take on
Liverpool in the UEFA cup final next week, by far the biggest game in their
long history. He moves back to the top of the league's Pichichi table with his
twentieth of the season, and with the four he got in Europe he is now third in
our chart. Another low scoring week, with neither of our European Champions
League teams getting a goal in their semi-finals. Real Madrid failed to score
at the weekend as well, and bowing in to pressure (against our principles - see
last week's report), we have deducted one from Raúl's total and added
one to Figo to bring us in line with accepted opinion in Spain. Apart from
Moreno, none of the top ten strikers scored this week, with Rivaldo limping off
halfway through the first half in Barcelona's waterlogged match at city
neighbours Espanyol. Oli got a couple as sleeping beauties Oviedo finally woke
up and put five past Bilbao, and Víctor and Bolo both moved with him on
to fourteen after scoring for their respective clubs. Other than Figo, the
other new face this week is Iván Alonso from Alavés, who has
proved a more than able replacement for Javi Moreno during his absence.
(07.05.01) |
