Uefa.com Team of The Year 2008 - Spain Dominates The Best of 2008

The uefa.com users’ Team of the Year 2008 has been announced, with players from UEFA EURO 2008™ winners Spain dominating the selection.

More than 3.3 million votes were cast by about 256,000 users, whose resulting dream team features six members of the Spain side that conquered Europe last summer.

Goalkeeper : Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

Right Back : Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

Central Defender : John Terry (Chelsea)

Central Defender : Carlos Puyol (Barcelona)

Left Back : Phillip Lahm (Bayern Munich)

Right Midfield : Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Central Midfield : Xavi (Barcelona)

Attacking Midfield : Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Left Midfield : Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich)

Forward : Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Forward : Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Coach : Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)

Preview Uefa.com Team of The Year 2008 here.

Tim Borowski : Seven goals in 23 games

Only two members of the FCB squad have played more often, and only two have scored more goals - Tim Borowski is justifiably pleased with his first half-season at Bayern. “I’ve had plenty of games, so I can certainly be satisfied,” said the 28-year-old, the only new arrival in Munich last summer alongside number two keeper Jörg Butt.

Borowski chose the final match of the first half of the league programme to underline his quality as a goal-scoring midfielder, levelling the scores at 1-1 in Stuttgart. He then laid on Luca Toni’s goal to put his side into the lead with a lively thrust and precise cross. “I’d have enjoyed it a lot more if we’d come home with all three points,” the player reflected after the home side grabbed a last-minute equaliser.

Champions League: Bayern 3 Steaua Bucharest 0

A Miro Klose brace and Luca Toni’s maiden Champions League goal saw Bayern complete an ultimately routine victory over a limited Steaua Bucharest side and progress to the knockout stages after Christmas.

The 64,000 crowd at an icy Allianz Arena saw the German champions pound away at the Romanian goal in the opening quarter of an hour, but not for the first time this term, the Bavarians were careless with their early chances and stalemate prevailed at half-time.

Klose finally broke the deadlock just short of the hour, Toni heading home shortly afterwards to put Munich firmly and deservedly in the driving seat.

Germany star Klose completed his brace 20 minutes from the end to put the result beyond doubt as Bayern engaged cruise control, sealing the win which leaves them needing a scoring draw or better in Lyon on Matchday 6 to finish top of Group F.

Leaders Bayern share the spoils with Schalke

BERLIN: Bayern Munich had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Schalke 04 on Saturday, a result that cut their lead in the Bundesliga to a single point.

Ivan Rakitic beat Oliver Kahn with a low shot in the 36th minute to stun the 66,000 crowd at the Allianz Arena.

Bayern equalised with a Miroslav Klose header nine minutes after the break.

After five games, Bayern lead with 11 points, one ahead of Arminia Bielefeld and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Bielefeld won 4-2 at home to Hansa Rostock while Frankfurt enjoyed a 2-1 thriller at home to Hamburg SV.

Champions VfB Stuttgart joined Schalke on seven points with a 3-0 win at home to Energie Cottbus.

With Luca Toni back and fit, Bayern looked capable of winning handsomely.

Toni, however, wasted his first chance in the seventh minute, dragging a shot wide after being put clean through on goal.

Klose then missed two perfect opportunities to play in his strike partner after neat build-up play and Christian Lell fluffed a good opening at the far post.

Schalke were struggling to hold on when from nowhere they took the lead.

Rakitic, fresh from his first two international games for Croatia, controlled the ball 25 metres out and swept in low at Kahn's right-hand post for a brilliant opener.

Kahn kept Bayern in the game by saving from Rakitic when the 19-year-old raced through on goal a minute before the break.

Bayern pressed hard and got the equaliser from a Franck Ribery free kick on the right. Toni's header forced a fine one-handed save from Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer and Klose pounced on the rebound for his fourth goal of the season.

Bayern had lots of possession but created few clear chances and Schalke might easily have claimed victory as two Christian Pander free kicks created confusion in the Bayern area.

“The first half was good,” Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told reporters. “We didn't take our chances, though, and after that we didn't do enough. I think both sides deserved their point.” – Reuters

Bayern’s Hoeness accuses opponents of rough-house tactics

BERLIN: Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has slammed the treatment dished out to French winger Franck Ribery during Saturday’s clash with Hanover.

And Hoeness accused his team’s opponents of resorting to rough-house tactics due to Bayern’s superiority.

“The teams that can’t match us on the pitch try to make up for it with excessive violence,” he told the bi-weekly Kicker magazine on Monday.

“People want to see good football but at the same time this beautiful football is being destroyed by nasty fouls. Ribery took so many knocks to his ankles: it was done deliberately to endanger his physical health. It’s incredible, almost every duel ended in a kick.”

Hoeness was so incensed during the match that he remonstrated with Hanover coach Dieter Hecking.

“This can’t continue like that,” added Hoeness. “One day a referee is going to have to send off seven or eight players so that everyone is warned.”

Bayern’s rivals had little sympathy for Hoeness’ stance, though.

“Football is not chess and Ribery knows that. And anyway, in France it is more physical,” Bayer Leverkusen’s sporting director Rudi Voeller told Bild newspaper.

Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said after the game, a 3-0 victory for the Munich club, that he was afraid for Ribery but advised his team to “move the ball quicker and not dribble so much”.

Bayern splashed out more than 70mil euros in the summer to assemble a formidable squad that are expected to romp away with the title and have already scored 10 goals in their opening three games, with none conceded. – AFP

Hitzfeld reviews the season: 'We know what we have to do better'

The curtain has come down on a disappointing season at Bayern. The dethroned Bundesliga champions finished a relatively poor fourth, missing out on the Champions League for the first time since 1997. The time is right for an analysis of the positives and negatives in 2006-7.

"We were especially poor against less strong opponents and dropped too many points," Ottmar Hitzfeld exclusively told premium channel FCB.tv, "we've drawn our conclusions, we know what we're lacking, and what we have to do better in the new season."

Interview: Ottmar Hitzfeld

FCB.tv: Ottmar Hitzfeld, what were the fundamental reasons why Bayern finished no higher than fourth this term?

Ottmar Hitzfeld: "I'm very pleased we were able to make it up to our fans at least a little by winning our last two matches, and also that we gave Mehmet Scholl a decent send-off. But at the end of the day, it was a very disappointing season. We were especially poor against less strong opponents and dropped too many points. On the one hand, it was because we were less hungry after the tremendous success of back-to-back doubles, and we thought we could win trophies by giving it 80 percent. On the other hand, it was certainly because we lacked certain types of player. We often faced teams who did nothing but defend, so perhaps we needed a physically powerful striker with strength in the air, or a midfielder capable of beating two men and giving us a numerical advantage. That's something we definitely lacked. I also believe to an extent the team was unable to cope with the pressure. But we've drawn our conclusions, we know what we're lacking, and what we have to do better in the new season."

FCB.tv: Have you completed your analysis?

Hitzfeld: "Naturally, we've kept up a continuous dialogue as we put together a concept for the new season: the kind of players we need, the positions where we need strengthening, the players we want to keep and the players we no longer require. The decisions over who's staying and who's going were made fairly early."

FCB.tv: Four players officially took their leave on Saturday, and Owen Hargreaves is moving on as well. Could Roque Santa Cruz be the next departure?

Hitzfeld: "He's still contracted to us, but he's talking to other clubs. We have ideas of our own. The decision whether he's going or staying hasn't been taken yet."

FCB.tv: Three new signings have been confirmed so far - or do you know more than that?

Hitzfeld: "Obviously I know more than what has been announced so far. We've completed one or two other transfers, but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß want to announce everything together as a single package, so we'll all have to be a little patient."

FCB.tv: Will you be adding players from the club's youth section?

Hitzfeld: "Yes, Mats Hummels was already part of the squad this season, and he'll continue to train with us next term. We'll also add Toni Kroos, he's trained with us and played a few games for the reserves. He's still young and needs match practice, but I reckon both will appear for the first team in the course of the season."

Bayern set to splurge for next season

Bayern Munich’s board have approved plans to invest massively in a new-look team that they hope will recapture domestic dominance and become an international force.

The club’s management and the supervisory board met behind closed doors late on Monday to discuss plans for the new season.

“The board presented the players we need to get and we are all of the opinion that it’s the right way to go and make Bayern successful,” chairman Franz Beckenbauer said.

Bayern will finish the season without a trophy, after sweeping the domestic double the previous two seasons. They were ousted in the second knockout stage of the Champions League and will play in the UEFA Cup next season.

“We will have to invest a lot of money,” Beckenbauer said following the two-hour meeting.
Bayern officials have not mentioned any names, although Italy striker Luca Toni has been widely reported to be high on the list.

Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has said that perhaps up to eight new players could come to Bayern.
So far, three new signings have been revealed – Hamit Altintop from Schalke, Jan Schlaudraff from Alemannia Aachen and Jose Ernesto Sosa from Estudiantes de La Plata