Who is the best player of last week? We name 5 candidates based on their ratings & performances. Please vote for the player who impressed you most last week.
Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, Man City's Kevin De Bruyne, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, Watford's Gerard Deulofeu and Barcelona's Lionel Messi are the five nominees for our All Football Player of the Week, with all of them included in our All Football Team of the Week.
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Robert Lewandowski scored his 200th and 201st Bundesliga goals as Bayern Munich roared back to the top of the Bundesliga with a 5-0 mauling of Borussia Dortmund and inspired Bayern to win a nine-goal thriller in the DFB Cup against Bundesliga 2 side Heidenheim and reach the semi-finals.
Lewandowski lifts the ball over Burki 25 yards from goal and slots the ball into an unguarded net after Zagadou passes the ball straight to Lewy. That is 200 Bundesliga goals for the striker.
The Poland international fittingly completed the rout in the 89th minute as the champions took a big step towards retaining their crown.
Before the brilliant performance in Der Klassiker, Lewandowski was benched due to illness against Heidenheim. but within 11 minutes of his introduction as a half-time substitute, he had set up Thomas Muller and turned in from close range to put Bayern ahead.
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Benzema was Madrid's best player as they lost at Mestalla and he spared Real Madrid's blushes with a match-winning brace in 2-1 victory over Eibar.
The Frenchman's brace against Eibar took him up to 26 for the season, and he has scored in each of his last three games.
Since Zinedine Zidane's return to the dugout at the Santiago Bernabeu, Benzema has only failed to score in one game - against Celta Vigo - and has four goals in his last four games.
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
De Bruyne opened the scoring in City's 2-0 win over Cardiff on Wednesday and played the full 90 minutes to complete his latest comeback in a season ruined by injury.
His sixth-minute finish from a tight angle offered reminders of De Bruyne's sparkling form last season.
De Bruyne provided the one genuine moment of quality in a drab game against Brighton, curling in a brilliant fourth-minute cross for Gabriel Jesus to head the only goal. The Seagulls applied pressure in the second half but City comfortably closed out the win.
Gerald Deulofeu (Watford)
Former Barcelona forward Gerard Deulofeu stole the headlines with two goals in an exhilarating FA Cup semi-final, with Watford beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2.
It was very much a split match at Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon: one pre-Deulofeu and the other post-Deulofeu.
This is because before the 66th minute, the Spaniard was not even on the pitch, having started as a substitute, and Wolves were 2-0 up through Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez.
It was the latter player's goal that saw Javi Gracia throw on Deulofeu which was indeed a last throw of the dice, with Watford going to three forwards - and just 10 minutes later he was rewarded with an audacious chipped goal from the substitute.
With his match-winner, Deulofeu became the seventh player to score a brace in an FA Cup semi-final, and the first since Willian did for Chelsea back against Spurs in April 2017.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Messi’s hat-trick against Betis drew plaudits worldwide as one of the best he has ever chalked up but the forward’s form shows no sign of dipping and his cameo off the bench against Villarreal again proved decisive, his free kick pulling Barça back into the game with seconds on the clock before Luis Suárez added the coup de grace deep in stoppage time.
After that, Messi surely secures the win against Atletico Madrid with a low strike. The Argentine found space on the right flank and surged into the inside channel. Fortune was on his side as Gimenez just lost out in the tackle, despite getting a foot to the ball. Even with a crowd of players surrouding him, Messi picked his spot, finding the bottom corner.
With the beautiful free-kick against Villarreal, Lionel Messi (415) has surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo’s league goal-record. Still at 31-years of age, Messi reached this number of goals only in the Spanish La Liga.
Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section. The winner of the vote will be announced tomorrow.
See you next week!