Rasmussen gets first goal after five years
The 22-year old Danish striker Christian Rasmussen from Ajax stole the headlines in the Dutch media Sunday as he scored his first goal in five years since joining the team from FC Nordsjælland in 2019 to help the Amsterdam club to the top of the Eresdivisie for the first time in 827 days as PSV Eindhoven dropped points.
Also Anton Gaaei was in the starting line-up for Ajax in the 2-0 win against Fortuna Sittard where Christian Rasmussen finally found the net in injury-time.
Not too far away from Amsterdam another Dane was in scintillating form as 27-year old Kasper Dolberg returned to action following an injury-spell on the sidelines, and proved his goal instinct is certainly still intact as he scored twice in Anderlechts 2-0 win against Royal Antwerp. Lucas Hey, who recently got his debut for the Bruxelles-club was also praised in Belgian media for his defensive efforts.
Patrick Dorgu got his debut after his much discussed transfer from Lecce and was replaced at half-time by Alejandro Garnacho in Manchester Uniteds 2-1 win in the FA Cup against Leicester for whom usually reliable goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was far from his best. Rasmus Højlund played all the match for United.
Horror-injury for Bah
Further to the North, Danish Under-21 international striker, William Osula had a superb afternoon for Newcastle United and provided two assists in “Toon Armys’s” 3-2 win against Birmingham in the FA Cup.
Benfica preserved their hopes of winning the Portuguese title with a 3-2 win against Moreinse but it was a weekend to forget for Danish international winger Alexander Bah who along with Benfica’s new signing Manu sustained dreadful anterior cruciate knee ligament injuries which means they are ruled out for the rest of the season and will miss Benfica’s playoff-matches against AS Monaco in the Champions League.
Victor Nelsson got his debut for AS Roma after his transfer from Galatasaray when he replaced Stephan El Shaarawy after 58 minutes in “Il Giallorossi’s” 1-0 win against Venezia for whom striker Christian Gytkjær played the last ten minutes.
Werder crumbled in Stage's absence
Elsewhere in Rome Gustav Isaksen was given high marks for his performance in Lazio’s 5-1 win against Monza. Lazio had the captain of the Danish Under-21 national team, Oliver Provstgaard, on the bench for the whole match following his recent transfer from Vejle BK.
Werder Bremen playmaker Jens Stage had to be replaced after 43 minutes with an injury and his contribution was sorely missed by a weak Bremen-side who lost 3-0 in the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich on Friday night. In Wolfsburg, Joachim Maehle was best player on the pitch for the Wolfswagen-club who managed to claim a point in a goalless draw against German champions Leverkusen.
Also Andreas Skov Olsen and Jonas Wind were in action for Wolfsburg who recorded their third successive draw.
Frederik Rønnow and Robert Skov were generally praised for their efforts in Union Berlin´s 4-0 win away against Hoffenheim while Rasmus Kristensen put in a solid defensive performance for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1-1 draw away against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Rasmus Højlunds younger brother, Oscar Højlund, replaced Ellyes Skhiri 15 minutes from the end.
In France Pierre-Emile Højbjerg put in his normally very reliable performance in Olympique Marseille’s 2-0 win against Angers while Mika Biereth who had scored a hat-trick within eight minutes of his debut for AS Monaco on 1 February against Auxerre played for nearly an hour in Monaco’s 4-1 defeat away against PSG.