EUROPEAN NEWSPAPER REVIEW - “This is Bale”, Zidane Euphoria and Liverpool bid for Götze?

Andy Mitten rounds up the latest news being reported by the European newspapers, including transfer talk surrounding Liverpool.

“This Is Bale” reads the front cover of Monday’s Marca, the headline in English after he scored a hat-trick in Zinedine Zidane’s first game in charge of Real Madrid, a 5-0 triumph over Deportivo La Coruna.

“The Welshman finally receives the love from the Bernabeu,” read the text together with a large picture of Bale making his heart celebration.

Bale is praised for scoring eight goals in his last four La Liga matches, while Zidane - the news story of last week - is saluted inside the paper for making many changes that have already improved Madrid.

Another Marca cover quote: “We don’t want individual trophies, we only want to win titles” is a pointed dig at Barcelona, who are expected to clean up in the Ballon d’Or and FIFPro awards tonight in Zurich.

Lionel Messi, who scored a hat-trick in Barça’s 4-0 win over Granada, is the clear favourite – something even Marca acknowledges.

Gary Neville’s Valencia failed to win again and sit 11th, with only three points from Neville’s opening five league games in charge. The Valencian paper Super Deporte noted that Los Che’s defeat at Real Sociedad, combined with Atletico Madrid winning, means the team from the capital have overtaken Valencia and moved into third in Spain’s all-time respected league table.

AS’s front page talks about the “Zidane Euphoria”, while quoting praise of the Frenchman from newspapers around the world, but it also makes space to point out that Atletico Madrid are Spain’s winter champions, the leaders at the halfway point in the league. Not completely true, for Barça would be if they won their game in hand.

Zidane’s new job wasn’t only headline news in Spain, the French footballing press in a frenzy since the announcement. “Nothing will ever be the same again” said L’Équipe, with Le Monde adding that the job will be “Zidane’s greatest challenge”.

L’Équipe also questioned whether “Zizou” was “untouchable”, which former national coach Raymond Domenech – who was in charge of Les Bleus when Zidane was infamously sent off in the 2006 World Cup final – answered in an interview with Le Monde, “He was, but he’s not anymore”.

In an interview accorded to the German language Swiss daily Blick, former Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld called the appointment “madness”, highlighting Zidane’s lack of any managerial experience. As Le Figaro pointed out, lack of experience is a major reason for Zidane’s relatively meagre salary of €2.5m per year - half of what his predecessor earned.

Any doubts over the appointment were allayed, at least in the short term, after Zidane’s opening triumph against Depor. “Zidane couldn’t have dreamt of better” exclaimed Le Parisien, “Zidane’s grande soirée!” said Le Figaro. L’Équipe called the match a “festival” and hailed Zidane’s “promising start”. Sud-Ouest was more reserved, leading with Zidane’s own post-match comments that “it’s only the first game.”

When they weren’t enthusing over Zidane’s exploits in Spain, the French papers reacted to the action on match day 20 in Ligue 1, as PSG beat Bastia 2-0 at the Parc des Princes. Angel Di Maria set up both goals for Maxwell and Thiago Motta, leading Le Parisien to praise the Argentine’s “vision and precision”. Di Maria now has 9 goals and 13 assists in all competitions.

Elsewhere, Lyon celebrated their first match in their brand new 59,000 capacity Parc OL with a 4-1 victory over Troyes, striker Alexandre Lacazette scoring the first ever goal at France’s third biggest stadium. “A perfect start!” said L’Équipe.

With the Bundesliga still enjoying its Winterpause, the attention of the German press was once again on England and the fortunes of Jürgen Klopp. “Klopp a whisker away from embarrassment” said the Süddeutsche Zeitung following the Reds’ 2-2 draw at fourth division Exeter City. “Klopp gambles on B-team and narrowly avoids embarrassment”, added the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Following a raft of injuries, BILD suggested that “Klopp is after [Mario] Götze – will he get the World Cup hero?” In an interview with sister magazine SPORTBILD, Götze didn’t rule out a move, saying “I know Klopp well, I worked really well with him [at Dortmund]. He’s a very good manager.”

As Die Welt pointed out however, Götze has been struggling with injury himself since tearing his hamstring against the Republic of Ireland in October, concluding: “Götze will be out for longer than expected.”

One person who has been paying particular attention to English football over Christmas is Borussia Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke – and he’s not impressed.

“The players are squeezed like lemons and the schedule leaves hardly any time for training” he told BILD am Sonntag. “Footballers who care more about just what amount of money lands in their bank account should consider that before moving there.” He also said he doesn’t think the quality of football has increased, “just the expenditure.”

As for Borussia Dortmund, newly crowned African player of the year Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has pledged his future to the club, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. The paper also ran with the story of Bakery Jatta, a 17-year-old refugee from Gambia who has impressed greatly in a trial for Hamburg and is hoping for a contract.

Italy’s winter champions are Napoli, for the first time since Maradona’s team in 1990. They beat Frosinone 5-1 away, prompting La Gazzetta dello Sport’s “Five for the scudetto” headline. Gonzalo Higuain scored twice, but Serie A remains very close, with only three points separating the top four.

“Juve catch Inter and go from -11 behind to -2 in 9 days” said Gazetta of Juventus’ improved good form as they beat Sampdoria 2-1 away. They leapfrogged Inter, who were beaten 1-0 at home by a 95th minute Sassuolo penalty. “Such a waste from Mancini” opined Gazetta’s headline.