Bayern Hot-Shot Gomez Ready for Villarreal
With seven goals in his last two games, Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez insists his purple patch is due to his hard-working team-mates as they prepare for Wednesday's Champions League tie at Villarreal.
Gomez scored four goals in Bayern's crushing 7-0 win over Freiburg last Saturday in the German league having netted a hat-trick on his previous appearance at Kaiserslautern.
With eight goals in five league games this season, as last season's top scorer in the Bundesliga with 28 goals, Gomez is in fine form, but insists his success in front of goal is down to his team mates.
He is also enjoying life under new Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes having struggled for form under previous boss Louis van Gaal who preferred Croatia striker Ivica Olic up front.
"Gomez is a sensational striker," said Bayern captain and Germany team-mate Lahm.
"He's been working really, really hard for more than a year, so he deserves his luck."
Bayern were in impressive form last Saturday, but face tough tasks ahead in Group A against English Premier League side Manchester City and Italy's Napoli.
"We have 11 players who understand each other perfectly," said Gomez who joined Bayern from Stuttgart in 2009 for a reported 30 million Euros.
"That's football: I kept shooting at goal in the first few weeks of the season, but it just wouldn't go in.
"Against Freiburg, I even scored when the ball was kicked against me, you have to laugh."
Gomez's third goal came down more to luck than judgment when Freiburg's Oliver Barth blasted an attempted clearance against the striker's shin, the ball looping almost apologetically over the goalkeeper and into the net.
Having suffered from goal droughts in the past, Gomez knows to enjoy his scoring touch while it lasts and admits his side face stiffer tests in Spain.
"Let's not get carried away," he said. "We'll have much tighter games than this, games when we’ll be delighted with just one goal.
"I just stand there up front and score the goals, because that's my job."
Bayern host Manchester City at Munich's Allianz Arena on September 27 then travel to Napoli for October 18.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/14928 |