Ex-pat of the week #10

Which South Americans caught our eye this week? Well Martin Demichelis did, but for all the wrong reasons with his own goal as big-spending Malaga lost to Granada on Monday night. However, these five did the right things:

Martin Caceres. Bagged a brace for Juventus as they beat Milan in the San Siro in the Coppa Italia and was pretty well unplayable throughout.
Lucas Barrios. Might have left Borussia Dortmund during the January window, but stayed put and has since been brilliant for the Schwarzgelb. He was outstanding at the weekend as BvB went top of the league with a 2-0 win over Nurnberg, taking advantage of draws elsewhere and he chipped in again in the DFB Pokal in midweek against Holstein Kiel.
Juan (Silveira dos Santos). Roma shoulder-barged the Inter bandwagon off the rails - if that's not mixing too many metaphors - and Juan was at the heart of it in the middle of defence, keeping the Inter attack at arm's length. And he popped up with one of Roma's four at the other end.
Nenê. He just won't go away. Again, PSG failed to move him on during a transfer window and again he's forced his way into the side by being great. Scored twice at the weekend to further stake his claims as PSG remain three points clear at the top of Ligue 1.
Raul Bobadilla. Frozen out by Gladbach, the Argentine striker moved to Switzerland in January and marked his Young Boys debut in fine style with one of their three as they saw off Servette, consolidating third and closing in on Luzern in second.

And the winner is... Raul Bobadilla. The lad can be a handful and, by the same token, can infuriate. Clearly not in Lucien Favre's plans, he's made a fine start to life in Switzerland.


More next week and your nominations are welcome below or on twitter.

Ex-pat of the week #7

The French league resumed this week with the last two - Germany and Holland - set to begin again this week as Europe snaps out of holiday mode. There was derby action too in Italy and Spain and cup games galore. Here's who stood out for us this week:

Fernando Amorebieta. Athletic Club de Bilbao are making great strides under Marcelo Bielsa and his Venezuelan centre-back is at the heart of it. Another clean sheet in the league and a rare goal - his second this season out of a total of two for the club in seven years - was followed by another clean sheet in the Copa del Rey against Mallorca as Athletic put one foot in the semi-finals.
Radamel Falcao. Difficult times at Atlético Madrid, but things have started well under new manager Diego Simeone as they walloped Villarreal with Colombian striker Falcao the stand-out player on the field.
Nenê. When the Qatari money flooded into PSG, it was thought that Nenê's days there were numbered. But he's worked his way into his new manager's thinking and bagged a brace as the Parisians maintained top spot by beating a good Toulouse side 3-1.
Matias Suárez. Get used to the name as he's attracting a lot of interest. Anderlecht opened up four-point gap at the top of the Belgian league after beating Club Brugge at the weekend, Suárez the stand-out player and scorer of the third goal.
Maicon. Inter are on a roll in the league and also making strides in the Coppa Italia. Maicon rifled in a thunderbastard opener from 25 yards for the opener this week against Genoa and created the second, eventually finished by Andrea Poli, in a 2-1 win.

And the winner...
Radamel Falcao. When he's on song, Atléti look like world-beaters. When he isn't... But he was this week and got his new gaffer off to a flier.


Seriously. Can you name this section better than this? Let us know yeah