Borussia Dortmund

Next in our blog series we are going to explore the players in the Bundesliga and try to identify who the highest paid footballers are to see if they are actually worth their wage. Constantly fighting for the top spot are Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, so there is no doubt that they will both own the high-ticket players in the league.

13 Players Who Have the Highest Weekly Wages in the Bundesliga

Before we delve into the article, we are going to identify who the top earners in the Bundesliga are. For this article we are going beyond the top 10 as there are a number of players who are on the same or similar pay, so in this article we are going to look at the top 13. Below we have listed the top 13 earners in the Bundesliga based on their weekly wage and throughout this post we will look into their performance and technique:

1. Robert Lewandowski
2. Manuel Neuer
3. Thomas Müller
4. Lucas Hernández
5. Jérôme Boateng
6. Marco Reus
7. Mats Hummels
8. David Alaba
9. Emre Can
10. Kingsley Coman
11. Leon Goretzka
12. Erling Haaland
13. Joshua Kimmich

Robert Lewandowski

Weekly Wage: £331,000

Club: Bayern Munich

In 2014/15 Lewandowski was transferred to Bayern Munich from Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer. Throughout his time so far donning the Bayern Munich kit, Lewandowski has made 304 appearances for the club, netting 261 goals, and making 62 assists. And out of his entire career he has secured 16 top scorer titl

Recent seasons has seen football managers Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola go head-to-head in the English Premier League, with their clubs Liverpool and Manchester City respectively. Both Klopp and Guardiola are considered within the ranks of best modern-day football managers. There is a small but elite group off footballers that have been lucky enough to play under both of these football management greats. Below we will take a look at both Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola giving a brief history of their management and major successes. We will then go on and look at each of the four players to of played under both managers.

Jurgen Klopp

Klopp is a German football manager; he spent most of his playing career at Mainz 05, but it is as a manager that he has made his name in the game. To date he has managed three clubs – as listed below:

• 2001-2008 – Mainz 05
• 2008-2015 – Borussia Dortmund
• 2015-present – Liverpool FC

Jurgen Klopp is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. He is known for utilising an approach known as ‘Gegenpressing’. Gegenpressing is a high attacking approach to football; in which, when the ball is lost the players immediately attack to regain possession; as opposed to regrouping. Some commentators have described Klopp’s style as ‘heavy metal’.

Whether you enjoy the attacking style of teams that play under Klopp, there is little to doubt his success. Both in the Bundesliga and Premier League he has made his mark, and as he refines his management approach the stats get more impressive. At Mainz 05 his win rate was 40.4%, increasing to 56% at Borussia Dortmund and currently stands at 60.5% at Liverpoo

Consistently at the top of the table in the Bundesliga for his impressive goal scoring, in this post we are going to look through the career of Robert Lewandowski. Throughout this article, we will explore his junior and senior football journey both with club and national squads. So, if you want to find out more about this striker then keep on reading. Here is the basics of Robert Lewandowski’s personal and player profile:

• DOB – 21^st August 1988
• Height – 1.84m
• Weight – 80kg
• Nationality – Polish
• Current Club: Bayern Munich
• Signed – 1^st July 2006
• Position – Striker

Lewandowski’s Youth Career

Born on the 21^st August 1988, Robert started his football career with a local club called Partyzant Leszno as an unregistered player. At nine years old he joined MKS Varsovia Warsaw where he stayed for seven years. Now in his mid-teens, Lewandowski moved again to Delta Warsaw where he thrived. Compared to previous stints with junior clubs, he was unable to be consistent with goals, but during his time with Delta Warsaw he was on the first team and netted four goals in total. And finally, in 2005 he moved to Legia Warsaw II where he only spent one season before making his first senior debut with another club.

• 1997 to 2004 – MKS Varsovia Warsaw
• 2004 to 2005 – Delta Warsaw
• 2005 to 2006 – Legia Warsaw II

Lewandowski’s Senior Career

Lewandowski started his senior football career with Znicz Pruszkow after leaving Legia Warsaw II in 2006. He appeared for Znicz Pruszkow 32 times across the two seasons he was with them and managed to net a total of 21 goals and make 1 successful assist. Due to his high goal tally during only two senior seasons, he gained interest from other clubs who wanted to purchase him. Then in June 2008 he made his first senior transfer from Znicz Pruszkow to Lech Poznan for a re

Within this article we are going to look across the long-standing football career of Ciro Immobile. Exploring his transition from youth to senior squads on both the club and international side, we are going to analyze his historic and current performance on the pitch.

Here are the basics of Ciro Immobile’s personal and player profile, keep reading to find out more about his football career:

• DOB – 20^th February 1990
• Height – 1.85m
• Weight – 78kg
• Nationality – Italian
• Signed – 1^st July 2010
• Position - Striker

Immobile’s Youth Career

Ciro was born on the 20^th February 1990 in Torre Annunziata and started his youth career in football at the Torre Annunziata ’88. After being at the football school in his local area, he transferred to Maria Rosa before joining the Salernitana youth team. During his time with Salernitana he did not reach the level he wanted of exposure for his talent as he often found himself on the bench. Because of this negative experience with Salernitana he moved shortly after joining to the youth team for Sorrento.

With the Sorrento youth team Ciro thrived as he scored 30 goals in the U17 division during the 2007/08 season. During a tournament against Torino, the scouts from Juventus were really impressed with his performance and later signed him at the age of 18 for 80,000 Euros. During his time with Juventus he played in the Primavera league and saw his team through to their 2009 win at Torneo di Viareggio. Throughout the season he scored a total of five goals for the Juventus youth side, with two of these being in the final.

• Sorrento – 2002 to 2008
• Juventus – 2008 to 2009

Immobile’s Senior Club History

In March 2009 Ciro made his debut as a s

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most watched soccer tournaments across Europe as we see the top teams from each league compete to become the ultimate squad. Taking place during the summer of 2019 we saw the qualifying rounds of the 2019/20 season begin and after a short break the competition commenced with the group stages starting on the 17^th September and due to end in December ready for the knockout phases to start in early 2020. As the group stages are well underway, we thought we would take a brief look at match day and the qualifiers of this season’s Champions League tournament. So, if you are interested in finding out more about the fixtures then keep on reading.

Champions League Qualifiers

The Champions League Qualifiers for 2019/20 started on the 25^th June and ended on the 28^th August 2019. Within these stages of the football tournament the final qualifying teams were determined for the competition.

In the first Preliminary round, the champions of the Gibraltar, Andorra, San Marino and Kosovo associations played against one another and the winner was Feronikeli from Kosovo who beat the Lincoln Red Imps 1-0 in the first round and FC Santa Coloma 2-1 in the final.

After the first few matches of the preliminary round, we saw Feronikeli take on 31 champions from a wide range of associations. Unfortunately, Feronikeli lost out to The New Saints who also joined Nomme Kaljum, Red Star Belgrade, AIK, CFR Cluj, Ferencvaros, Qarabag, Sutjeska Niksic, Celtic, Saburtalo Tbilisi, Valletta, Rosenborg, Maribor, Dundalk, HJK and BATE Borisov with the advancement to the second round.

The second qualifying round is split into two with two paths available for the Champions League and the Europa League. Via the Champions League path, we saw the 16 winners from the first qualifying round face the 4 champions from Croatia, Denmark, Israel and Cyprus. But for the Europa League path we saw the 4 runners u

Along with the ongoing tournaments such as the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Primeria, the Champions League is also in progress. This league incorporates a range of clubs from all of the leagues across Europe and is a widely celebrated by fans worldwide as they cheer on their favourite soccer team once more. Currently in the group stages, the Champions League is where clubs across the globe compete on the soccer field to eventually lift the trophy at the end of the games – thus gaining Champions status.

Within this blog post we will take a look at how the tournament is panning out at the moment and what we can expect from the clubs in the coming weeks. From looking at how the matches have been scheduled and the groups picked, to the highest scoring player and team, you will find out all about this here.

How are the Teams Grouped?

After the initial play-offs had taken place prior to the scheduled group matches, the teams were whittled down to the 32 names below. These were then drawn into their specific groups on the 30^th August 2018. Their first set of matches were scheduled for the 18^th and 19^th September whereby each team within the group played against one another for a home and away match. Below you can see a breakdown of the clubs included in this season’s Champions League Tournament.

Group A

• Atletico Madrid
• Borussia Dortmund
• AS Monaco
• Club Brugge

Group B

• Barcelona
• Tottenham Hotspur
• PSV Eindhoven
• Inter Milan

Group C

• Paris Saint Germain
• Napoli
• Liverpool
• Red Sta

Starting on the 20^th July and running for 3 weeks, the International Champions Cup tournament is a fantastic way to get in the mood for the upcoming soccer seasons worldwide. As the winners have now been announced and celebrated, we have most certainly got a taster as to what is in store in the tournaments on the horizon.

Within this blog post we will have a look at the performance of the trophy winners, the clubs overall and look into the most outstanding player during the games. With this analysis we are able to picture how the rest of the games will pan out this time round, and see which clubs need to give it their all to redeem themselves from their play during the International Champions Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur Win the International Champions Cup

Out of the 3 matches played against Roma, Barcelona and Milan, Tottenham Hotspur managed to successfully net themselves 7 goals and thus winning the trophy. Closely behind them were Borussia Dortmund who acquired 6 goals overall.

When looking at how the matches played out for Spurs, their most successful play was against Roma where they won 4-1. Scoring this impressive total and netting 2 each within the match were Llorente and Lucas who have only played with Tottenham since the 17/18 season.

However, on the flip side, the most competitive match Spurs had to face was against Barcelona where they managed to tie at 2 all thanks to Son and N’Koudo. But unfortunately when it came to penalties Barcelona managed to successfully net 5 whereas Tottenham only scored 3 after the miss by Georgiou.

Most Impressive League Teams

Out of the 18 clubs which took part in this tournament, there was a decent mix of clubs from across Europe. However, when looking at how each league team performed, we are able to see which will be the most successful series of tournaments to watch this season? Below is a quick breakdown of how each club played.

Serie A

Established in 1963, the Bundesliga league is the top-flight soccer tournament which takes place in Germany. The founding members of this were Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, FC Koln, Hertha BSC, Hamburger SV, Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart. Also, they have most recently welcomed RB Leipzig back in 2016. With such a fantastic mix of teams, this league is most definitely one to look out for this season.

With the beginning of the 2018/19 fixtures just around the corner, we wanted to put together this article to explore the scheduling of the games. From who has the best stakes at getting to the final, to how the overall tournament could turn out, this post covers it.

Fixtures and Notable Dates

The beginning of this year’s tournament kicks off on the 24^th August 2018 and is expected to end on the 18^th May 2019. Starting off the fixtures, current Champions Bayern Munich play in their home grounds at Allianz Stadium against Hoffenheim. And the last match scheduled is Eintracht Frankfurt against Bayern Munich.

From the results seen in 17/18, the top 5 teams were Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Hoffenheim, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen. Below is a breakdown of all of the matches featuring these top teams battling it out against one another. So, make sure you make a note of these dates as they are most definitely key games to look out for this season.

• Bayern Munich – 24/08/18, 1/09/18, 15/09/18, 22/09/18, 10/11/18, 19/01/19, 2/02/19, 09/02/19, 06/04/19
• Schalke 04 – 22/09/18, 1/12/18, 08/12/18, 19/12/18, 09/02/19, 20/4/19, 27/04/19, 11/05/19
• Hoffenheim – 24/08/18, 15/09/18, 22/09/18, 1/12/18, 08/12/18, 19/01/19, 09/02/19, 30/03/19, 20/04/19
• Borussia Dortmund – 22/09/18, 29/09/18, 3/11/18, 10/11/18, 09/02/19, 23/02/19, 06/04/19, 27/04/19
• Bayer Leverkusen – 15/09/18, 29/09/18, 3/11/18, 19

6th October 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
When Andriy Yarmolenko linked up with Borussia Dortmund in a €25 million deal from Dynamo Kiev in the summer, he certainly had big boots to fill.

After all, replacing the departed Ousmane Dembele, who left to join FC Barcelona for a staggering initial transfer fee of €105 million, and provided 20 assists last season and completed more dribbles than any other player in the Bundesliga (with 103), was always going to be a tough ask. But BVB's sporting director in Michael Zorc had full faith in his new acquisition, explaining: "Andriy is a player we've tracked for a long time and who stands for top level football both on club and national team level."

The player himself clearly believed he was ready for this crucial next step in his career, labelling himself as a 'ready made player' and one who firmly knows his capabilities.

While many doubted he had the capacity to replicate the wizardry of Dembele, so far, however, the Ukrainian international is doing an admirable job of living up to the billing. Having started five games and come on as a substitute once, the 27-year-old's gaining vital experience with every passing match as he continues to assimilate himself with Peter Bosz's positional play philosophy. Scoring a wicked goal vs. Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League was the perfect way to announce himself to BVB's diehard fans, and he's steadily gone about making his mark thereafter.

His outstanding performance against Augsburg on the weekend was his best yet too, with the tall attacker scoring a sublime back-heel goal and supplying an ideally weighted lay-off assist for Shinji Kagawa's exquisite chipped second.

Operating in his right wing slot, Yarmolenko proved a constant thorn in the side of his opposition and, in particular, his marker, Philipp Max, who struggled to come to terms with his

24th February 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
You have to go back over four years to the last time Borussia Dortmund's superb right back, Lukasz Piszczek, was involved in scoring or assisting three goals in one game.

On the 25th of December, 2012, he bagged a pair of assists and found the back of the net once in BVB's 6-1 demolition of Koln. On the weekend, the Polish international impressively repeated the feat in his team's dominant 3-0 drubbing of Wolfsburg.

While he had to wait a while to echo such an amazing achievement, it was definitely well worth the wait, in a game where Piszczek put in a scintillating man of the match performance littered with upside. Although one of his assists was directed into the back of the net by Wolfsburg defender Jeffrey Bruma, following his inventive delivery into the box, his goal and second assist were all down to him.

His goal showcased his fine concentration, as he found the back of a net with an expertly placed header after the ball had traveled through a sea of bodies in the box. Then, his sublimely weighted lofted assist for Ousmane Dembele's 59th minute header capped off his night beautifully.

Piszczek's immense contribution extended far beyond his tangible attacking output, however, for he played a key role in Thomas Tuchel's setup on both sides of the ball.

Seeing as Dortmund absolutely monopolised possession, Piszczek not only acted as a key facilitator in retaining possession but also as a crafty instigator of many an attacking move. By positioning himself high and wide on the right flank, this forced Wolfsburg's left central midfielder, Yannick Gerhardt, to regularly be dragged out wide to mark him. Moreover, courtesy of Piszczek being in such an advanced location, in combination with the Wolves sitting in a deep block, this also gave Dortmund centre-back Mathias Ginter oceans of space to carry the ball forward in the right half space, knowing Gerhardt was occupied by Piszczek and