With the Nations League fixture against Portugal fast approaching the striker crisis at the Danish national team is a hot topic in the Danish media.
Rasmus Højlund was again again well below par when Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup to Fulham after penalties. Højlund was replaced by Chiedozie Obi Martin after 68 minutes and the 17-year old was praised by Alan Shearer for a promising performance after coming close to scoring his first goal for United at senior level. Christian Eriksen was given a rare chance to shine but was mediocre at best in another disappointing night for United.
Anderlecht recorded a hugely important 2-0 win away against Standard Liege but it was without the services of leading goalscorer in the Belgian Jupiler League, Kasper Dolberg, who Is struggling to return to full fitness following a knee injury. Lucas Hey was selected for the starting line up for “Les Mauves” and put in a fine performance in the visitors’ rearguard.
Jonas Wind hasn’t scored since 24 January when VFL Wolsburg drew with Holstein Kiel and he also failed to find the net when Wolfsburg won away against struggling Werder Bremen. Danish national team coach Brian Riemer could, however, take heart from the fact that Andreas Skov Olsen provided the assist for Patrick Wimmer’s opening goal while Jens Stage also got an assist for Werder Bremen when Mitchell Weiser cut the deficit to 2-1 shortly before the end.
Ligue 1 has in the past not been happy hunting grounds for Danish strikers but Mika Biereth certainly is the exception to that rule after making no less than ten goals in his first seven appearances for AS Monaco after his transfer from Sturm Graz and thereby destroying Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s previous goalscoring record. Biereth again showed his goal instinct during the weekend when he recorded his third hat-trick of the season by helping “the sons of the Principality” to a 3-0 win at home against Reims.
Gustav Isaksen played all the match for Lazio and was at the heart of the decisive action in the match against AC Milan at San Siro when he won a penalty deep into injury time as he was brough down in the box by AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan and Pedro converted the following penalty. Elsewhere Jens Odgaard came on after the interval but failed to get on the scoreboard in Bologna’s 2-1 win at home against Cagliari.
But from a Danish point of view it was Phillip Billing who caught all the headlines in the Serie A this weekend as he scored an all-important equalizer for Napoli in the top clash at the Diego Maradona Stadium against Inter.
Utrecht has been the big revelation in the Dutch Eresdivisie this season no less thanks to the services Oscar Fraulo who is loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Fraulo was Man of the Match on Saturday as he scored Utrecht’s winning goal at home against NAC Breda to preserve Utrecht’s hugely surprising third spot in the league.
Elsewhere in Holland Go Ahead Eagles recorded a sensational 3-2 win at home against PSV Eindhoven without the services of Jakob Breum who is out for the season while Soren Tengstedt is also injured. Denmark was, however, was still represented in the game as Aske Adelgaard starred in defense for the home side.