Er war noch nicht einmal 18 Jahre alt, da hatte Toni Kroos bereits seine ersten Bundesligaspiele auf dem Buckel und durfte auch schon im UEFA-Cup ran und erzielte dort in einem Spiel prompt den Siegtreffer. Auch Auszeichnungen kann der nun 19-Jährige vorweisen; so wurde er beispielsweise zum besten Spieler bei der U-17 Weltmeisterschaft in Südkorea gewählt oder er erhielt die Fritz-Walter-Medaille in Gold als Auszeichnung dafür, dass er zum besten Spieler seines Jahrgangs gewählt wurde.

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The tragic death of German goalkeeper Robert Enke has given us all some much-needed perspective. As much as top professional players are glorified, they are still people like you and me.

Enke threw himself infront of a train on Tuesday night, after suffering from depression since 2002.

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Happier days: With Louis Van Gaal at Barca

From what one can gather, Robert Enke kept a terrible secret.

He hid his depression to himself, fearful if it became public, his adopted daughter would be taken away, he would lose his sport, and his family destroyed.

As his widow, Teresa says, "I tried to be there for him.

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The matches to watch after you realize that playing football while wearing a cape might be the most awesome thing ever.

Saturday

Arsenal v Tottenham at Emirates Stadium North London derby. While Spurs are a little depleted at the moment (Defoe, Lennon, dos Santos, and Modric all out), this is still the match of the weekend.

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I pulled a Jupp Heynckes this week and thus the following links will have to make do for the moment.

• Louis van Gaal is not a god. He's a jazz singer. (YouTube)
• Football's winning formula revealed: give the ball to the other team and lose all your challenges. (Ballspiel)
• Mainz 05 are starting to build a global fanbase.

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Vintage, in this context, means 1970s and brilliant. Borussia Mönchengladbach were the league's most dominant club during that decade and won a then record five Bundesliga titles. Moreover they were also the ambassadors of style, with inspirational midfield and attacking talent in players like Jupp Heynckes, Günter Netzer (Ballon d'Or runner up 1972) or Allan SImonsen (Ballon d'Or 1977).

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I think the jury is still out on Bayer Leverkusen as title contenders. So far this season Jupp Heynckes team have beaten Hoffenheim, Freiburg, Bochum, Wolfsburg, Koln and Nurnberg. Of those six results, only two were against teams from the top half of the table. More pertinently, when they have played fellow contenders Bayer have come up short. Click to continue reading...

Bayern were busy exercising control and dominance. Leverkusen were busy defending. Hamburg were busy passing the ball around. Creativity, inspiration and excitement were busy waiting for a date that would never show up. Not this weekend.

Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. VfB Stuttgart will host Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday and then head off to Hannover for, what is now, a relegation six-pointer.

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