It was a decent week for Turks playing their trade around Europe. Yunus Malli bagged a brace for Mainz, Hakan Calhanoglu put on a virtuoso performance in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-1 Europa League victory over Sporting Lisbon but despite providing an assist and scoring Mesut Ozil was unable to prevent Arsenal from breaking their 10 year unbeaten run at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Yunus Malli
Yunus Malli played a staring role in Maniz 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Mainz leapfrogged Bayer Leverkusen to move up to fifth in the league following a brace from Malli and a goal from Jhon Cordoba. Malli received a rating of 8.83 from Whoscored for his performance and was without a shadow of a doubt man of the match. The U-21 Germany intentional turned Turkish senior national team star now has eight goals and two assist in 22 appearances for the Bundesliga side this season.
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Hakan Calhanoglu
Calhanoglu put on a man of the match performance in the 3-1 victory over Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on Thursday. The 22-year-old scored his ninth goal of the season against the Portuguese giants but his mid-week heroics took its toll on the Turkish international star as he looked exhausted during the 3-1 loss against Mainz.
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Mesut Ozil
Arsenal suffered a blow to their title challenge after losing 3-2 against Manchester United at Old Trafford despite Ozil’s best efforts. The 26-year-old created a grand total of six goal scoring opportunities more than any other player over the course of the 90 minutes but only one was converted. The World Cup winner even got on the scoresheet himself but it was not enough to rescue a point. Ozil has now created a whopping 111 chances in the Premier League this season – the highest in the league. Arsenal have however, scored the fewest goals in the top four (43) which highlights the Gunners problem.
Arda Turan
Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-1 to extend their unbeaten run to 34 games. Barca have also now won all 12 games in which Arda Turan has featured. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the reigning La Liga champions win when the bearded plays or just maybe it has more to do with the MSN – Messi, Neymar and Suarez. Whatever the reason Turan seems to have won the trust of head coach Luis Enrique and while he has not exactly been scintillating he has passed consistently at a 90 percent success rate and work assiduously in midfield.
Emre Can
Liverpool lost the League Cup to Manchester City but Can hit the headlines for this cheeky Panenka.
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Nuri Sahin
The pass master is back after a lengthy injury that saw him sidelines for over a year. Sahin made 85 passes at an impressive 92 percent accuracy in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-1 win over Hoffenheim and helped dictate play from his deep lying playmaker role.
Ilkay Gundogan
Gundogan is being linked with just about every major Premier League side and it is no surprise considering his recent form. The Germany international of Turkish origin made quite an impact when he was brought on for Kagawa at half-time. The 24-year-old provided an assist, hit the post and his passing was exception – 97 percent accuracy. Gundogan also took the most shots (5) and made the highest number of successful dribbles (2) in a brilliant second half performance.
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Enes Unal
The Johnny Depp lookalike striker played the last 25 minutes but was unable to get his name on the scoresheet for the second week running as NAC Breda succumbed to a 4-3 defeat. Unal has one goal in two games for the Dutch side since joining on-loan from Manchester City.