Crinkly Ears

In this post we have anticipatory Mesut-centric, Dortmund Semi-final news, a feature article in Marca, unbelievable praise from a Betis player and from Pepe Mel (Real Betis's coach) and a look back at the match against Borussia Dortmund in November and Mesut's incredible free kick.

The Real Betis section comes to us courtesy of meowlizz while the splendid gif-making artistry of andriy_7 is responsible for the stunning gifs to be found in this post. Much love ♥ to both of you.

Pepe Mel "Mesut Ozil Is On A Level With Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi";
Ruben Perez: I have played against Mesut and I suffered a lot."

Real Betis's coach had this to say after the last league game (in which Mesut played 90 minutes and scored at the tail-end of both halves) -

He is one of the great underrated players in the league. He’s on par with Cristiano and Messi but just doesn’t score. Madrid has a diamond in that player, and when he scores more goals throughout the season, he’ll be appreciated like he deserves.

Meanwhile, Ruben Perez, the Real Betis player, was also interviewed after the game. meowlizz found the interview on Punto Pelota.

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( Video, gifs and more! )

I can't wait to write up this match on the weekend! But here's a little anecdote from Marca to tide us over!



J. I. García-Ochoa 02/01/2013

"You hold onto it Mesut, Hold onto it!" Facing a veritable torrent from Barça, Mourinho put all his faith in Özil to ride out the storm. It was already the second half. Real Madrid was losing 1-0 and Barcelona was threatening to score a second. Pedro had just missed a clear chance to score from a one-on-one and Mou feared the worst.

The Portuguese coach got up from the bench and redeployed his men: "Özil! Out on the right! And hold onto it! Hide it!". Özil clung to the right flank and his performance only grew in stature, giving even more to his team. The German did exactly what his gaffer told him, down to the T, and he gave a new lease of life to his teammates, who were constantly searching him out with their passes. The number 10 dominated all of Real Madrid's attacking moves.

Özil put together more dangerous moves than any other players during the 'Clásico'. The German fed the ball into Barcelona's box as many as eight times, including the ball that lead to Varane's goal. Xavi was the player making the most passes into Madrid's the box for Barça, managing four.

The fans once again paid homage to Özil, particularly thanks to the boost he gave the Bernabéu during this game, but Mou gave the most praise to his workrate and his ability to read the game. Özil hardly put a foot wrong against Barça.
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I liked this short article in LIGABlatt because it sums up what we close observers of the Özil phenomenon have probably felt over the past few months - and because coming on the heels of the announcement that his ears will be immortalized in wax and that he is national player of the year (more on that below!) it seems rather apropos!

( Here is what they have to say... )

I'm going to get fancy with two cuts today because we have two pieces of news! As noted above, Mesut is, once again, National Team Player of The Year. This is the second year in a row and by a far, far wider margin. He blew away the competition - Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus - and was a clear double-digit winner this time!


Here is the write-up from ESPN


( So much happy news today... )

Community announcement: There will also be a friending meme on the weekend to celebrate the community reaching 300+ members over the past two days just short of our one-year anniversary! New members are particularly welcome - though all the old ones we've been putting up with might as well show up too ;) So try and remember what book you last read, since that is one of the questions!
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andriy_7's gif of Mesut's gorgeous winning free kick is SO gorgeous I'm just going to give away the plot from the outset!

Mesut used to take the free kicks all the time for Werder Bremen - a team that knows how to score off them with some considerable style - from the centre and right side of the pitch. Bromantic interest Marko Marin (now at Chelsea) would take them from the left. They were often successful. Free kicks from Mesut resulted in goals against the likes of Bayern Munich and Valencia (in the Champions League).




Mesut's first free kick goal was against derby-rivals Atleti (way to pick your team!). That was a low drive that had teammate Mahamadou Diarra shouting on the bench at the rest: "You've no idea how hard that is" and bromantic interest Xabi Alonso giving him a huge cuddle. His second came against Dortmund last month. His third was at Valladolid (above).

Meanwhile, Mourinho's expression part-way through the second half:

( The second part of an especially Mesuty Match spam... )

Appearances - Stats & Statistics

Mesut has overtaken Bodo Illgner (1996-2001; 2 Championships, 2 Champions Leagues) as the German with the second-highest number of official appearances with Real Madrid at 119 against Zaragoza! Some of you will remember that it was because of his shoulder injury that Iker Casillas became Madrid's #1.

To get to #1 he has to overtake Uli Stielike (1977-1985; 3 championships, 1 UEFA cup) - crinkly_ears is rooting for you darling!



For Germany fans: Uli Stielike was a runner-up in '82 and won the 1980 Euros with Germany. Bodo Illgner won the World Cup in 1990 with the only clean-sheet in World Cup history. I am sure these are goals we all hope the boy with the upside-down-ears will manage with Germany!

Illgner is an affectionate observer of the Mesuty phenomenon and was even asked about him this past hour in Sport1's write-up of Mesut's press-conference (more on that below). Even before he became a presenter (next to Ray Hudson) on Bein sport, he was often asked to comment on Mesut at Madrid by the German press. His verdict: Mesut's on-the-pitch personality could use some work (he should be more demanding of his teammates, particularly at Madrid), but he's a stout admirer of the boy on the pitch and "not just because I'm German" as he told Phil Shoen during the commentary done for the last clasico. He also laughed, suitably loudly, when Ray Hudson said: "I don't think May'sooht knows how to foul..."

( More Mesuty Goodness + Press Conference... )

If this video shows up in English, I'll replace it later. For now, here is the Spanish video:

Mesut's Post Match Interview


Mesut was interviewed very briefly after the match after receiving his man-of-the-match honours. The sound was dreadful, since the microphone were not fixed until after Jogi Loew began to speak, but his facial expressions are priceless.



His face from 2:40 on is particularly adorable, so watch carefully for that moment! Otherwise an unusually confident performance. Mesut's post-match interviews are in general more confident than his usual ones, exhaustion being an antidote to shyness.

Translation by me, jenny_jenkins

( Mesutyness, shirtlessness... )

Real Madrid's coach, Jose Mourinho, has cheerfully and uncontroversially (makes a change!) informed the press of the following during a trip to Turkey:



Mesut Özil es el mejor 10 del mundo. Todos le adoran y ven un poco de Figo y Zidane en él. Hará historia en el Real Madrid...

Mesut Özil is world's best number 10. Everyone loves him and sees a little of Figo and Zidane in him. He'll make history at Real Madrid...

For the record: Mesut played 52 games, made 29 assists and scored 7 goals. Last year: 53 games, 26 assists, 11 goals.

This seems a good opportunity to point out that our beloved andriy_7 once created a lovely spam of pictures of Mesut and Mourinho, complete with press quotations from the pair of them over the past two seasons, which can be FOUND HERE.

( Read more... )

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