Negredo making waves at Almería
Monday, April 20, 2009
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UD Almería's Álvaro Negredo may dismiss his recent form as the result of "a bit of luck", but his stock rose further on Sunday as he moved on to 19 Liga goals this season, taking him ninth in the ESM Golden Shoe standings.
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UD Almería striker Álvaro Negredo's stock rose further at the weekend as the 23-year-old took his tally for the season to 19 Liga goals, lifting him to joint ninth in the ESM Golden Shoe standings.
Madrid schooling
Unable to break into the Real Madrid CF reckoning, Negredo joined Almería last season, contributing an impressive 13 goals for the mid-table side, though he has eclipsed that this term. Going into Sunday's meeting with CA Osasuna with 17 goals, including nine in as many outings, he continued the fine form with two more strikes, including the late winner in a 2-1 victory.
Sánchez stoical
Negredo is dismissive of the furore gathering around him, saying he is simply "having a bit of luck". Yet Almería coach Hugo Sánchez, a fair judge of attacking prowess having scored a remarkable 234 goals in 347 appearances in Spain with Real Madrid, Club Atlético de Madrid and Rayo Vallecano, sees it differently. "I'm afraid we won't be able to enjoy Negredo's presence for too much longer here as there will be many teams trying to sign him once the season ends," he conceded. "I'd advise the fans of Almería to enjoy him while they can."
Janko top
Negredo's goals lifted him into the top ten of the ESM Golden Shoe standings for the first time, on a weekend when several of the prize's leading contenders were on target. Grafite struck twice as the leaders in Germany, VfL Wolfsburg, extended their winning run to ten Bundesliga matches, and there were also goals for David Villa, Diego Forlan, Marco Di Vaio and Lionel Messi. Messi's FC Barcelona team-mate Samuel Eto'o did not register, however, allowing FC Salzburg's Marko Janko to leapfrog him to the No1 spot with the opener in a 2-0 victory at home to SV Mattesburg.
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The leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) on the UEFA Ranking have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between the clubs from those countries and those from the other nations.
A player cannot first play in a summer league (eg Norway) and then in a winter league (eg Spain) and combine the points total for each season.
Figures from Voetbal International