Euro 2012: Mario Gomez is Germany's Drogba, says Schweinsteiger
Hot-shot striker Mario Gomez is Germany's version of Didier Drogba, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said Thursday after the Bayern Munich star took his tally to three goals at Euro 2012.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: June 14, 2012 08:07 PM IST
Hot-shot striker Mario Gomez is Germany's version of Didier Drogba, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said Thursday after the Bayern Munich star took his tally to three goals at Euro 2012.
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Having netted with a header against Portugal on Saturday in Germany's opening Group B win, Gomez underlined his current form with two well-taken first-half goals in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Holland.
The two victories leave Germany top of Group B and on course to reach next week's quarter-finals as a point against Denmark on Sunday in Lviv, Ukraine, will guarantee the Germans win the group.
Gomez came to the European championship on the back of a stellar season after scoring 41 goals for Bayern, but has been much maligned in Germany in the past after poor performances for the national team.
After failing to impress at both Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, he has converted his club form to the international stage here.
Bayern lost last month's Champions League final to Chelsea on penalties after Drogba equalised for the Blues, then hit the winning spot-kick, and Schweinsteiger says Gomez is just as lethal in front of goal as the Ivory Coast star.
"The good thing with Mario is that he needs almost zero chances and still scores, just like Didier Drogba, I would put those two more or less on the same level," said Schweinsteiger with Gomez on 25 goals in 54 games for Germany.
"Mario has had a very good season, as you could see against Portugal and Holland his goals are a precious commodity for us.
"We also have Miroslav Klose waiting in the wings, they are different players, but other countries would be happy to have such talent."
Alongside Russia's Alan Dzagoev, who has also scored three goals, Gomez is joint top-scorer at the Euro 2012 finals and the powerfully built striker posed the Dutch defence all kinds of problems in the first-half.
Having collected Schweinsteiger's pass on the turn, Gomez then drilled his shot past Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg for the first goal, then repeated the feat from the right side of the goal before the break.
"When that first goal happened, I was still marvelling at how well Mario accepted the ball, did a little swivel and slotted it home," joked Schweinsteiger, who set up both goals for Gomez.
"If he goes on like this, there will be a transfer to Brazil on the books for him.
"Inside the box, Mario is a world-class player, there is no denying that and he doesn't need to prove himself anymore.
"There was a time at Bayern when he missed a few I laid off for him, so I am all the more glad that he was really icy cold in front of goal.
"The first goal, especially, was no easy feat."
With the Germans playing a single striker in front of three attacking midfielders, Schweinsteiger said Gomez's movement around the penalty area helps Germany's creative players to find holes in the defence.
"It is really important that our forwards move into space so we can play that defence splitting pass," said the 27-year-old.
"I think we did things much better against the Dutch than we did against Portugal, but the Portuguese were still very well organised.
"It wasn't as attractive and maybe we weren't as cohesive as we wanted, but both matches were very good."