VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich 0-2 DFB Pokal 2012 Highlights Goals Ribery Gomez Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich 0-2 DFB Pokal 2012 Highlights Goals Ribery Gomez Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Stuttgart vs Bayern 2012 ( Stuttgart Bayern Video BELOW) Final score and result:- Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich 0-2 ( Franck Ribery, Mario Gomez) Mercedes Benz Arena, Stuttgart- 8 February, 2012 [.

You could be looking at the Annual Congregation of Munich's Santa Clauses, except this photo would've been only complete if Mario Gomez joined the bench instead of looking down at them! During Bayern's 1-1 draw against Hamburg over the weekend, there was a lot of frustration and anger from all corners of the club.

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we cover the wacky side of football! Today, read about the German National Team's bizarre new campaign, Mourinho's Carpark 'Me Time', Harry Kewell's Tennis Day Out and Guti's Holiday!

Now now, don't get all excited! You're not looking at the latest 80′s German pop band founded by Lothar Matthäus, but it's close to the truth.

The race for the Bundesliga title is getting very interesting with each passing week as Bayern Muinch, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke all notched up wins to ensure that there was no let up in the league standings.

All three teams are level on 40 points with fourth place Borussia Mochengladabch only a point behind.

High up on the list of things no to do with football fans is to promise the unveiling of a big new signing and then fail to follow through. Worse is to promise a big signing and then come through with someone who won't even find the end of the bench on the reserves. Like Bayern did this afternoon, requesting their fans tune into an official press conference to unveil the signing, which turned out to be the photo of the fan who'd logged in via facebook.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Internazionale Milan, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal. So many great clubs in the heart of Europe but not one has yet made a major transfer purchase in this January transfer window. To some degree or another, it could be argued, that each and every one of those aforementioned clubs need at least one single player, if not more in a few different positions.

Mario Gomez with girlfriend, Silvia Meichel. Images: Sky Germany.

Last Friday, the Bayern Munich 'ballers of past and present turned up to celebrate club legend Uli Hoeness' 60th birthday at an open bar party. Present were Mario Gomez and his girlfriend, Silvia Meichel. Isn't she just a breath of fresh-faced, normal air, Kickettes?

Now we've all established the fact that Bavarian giants Bayern Munich absolutely love their basketball games..."natürlich!!" So they turned up at full force to watch last weekend's showdown between Bayern Munich and EWE Baskets Oldenburg at the Audi Dome with their families.

With world champions Spain firm favourites to retain their European crown, it's probably no surprise that their record scorer David Villa features heavily in the betting to be Euro 2012′s leading marksman.
The Barcelona striker is 10/1 to be the tournament's top scorer but will the 30-year-old be in Vicente del Bosque's squad?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a small article selecting the best eleven in Europe who wear the number thirteen shirt. I thought I'd look into this subject further and I believe that if you take the top five leagues in Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) that the highest number you can make an eleven from (you need a goalkeeper remember) is 33.

We've spent a lot of time fantasising that Thomas Muller will one day gaze dreamily into our eyes. Honestly? We're a bit scared of the repercussions now. Image: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi.

It's that time of year again, folks. Yes, while you're labouring through the debris of another expensive holiday season, hiding whenever the postman comes 'round for fear of your credit card statement being delivered, rich footballers are off getting free swag.

Female fans in Doha were seen watching Bayern Munich during their training camp last week. We're sure the loudest screams were reserved for a certain Mario Gomez! / via Bongarts

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As we told you earlier this week, the München Men have been biding their time at a training camp in Doha. Bastian Schweinsteiger recovered well enough from his shoulder operation (which quite honestly, left a sexy scar!) to play in their win over Al-Sailiya last night.

Marco Reus, the rising star in the German Bundesliga having helped Borussia Mönchengladbach to a respectable fourth place during the winter break, will be leaving the club at the end of the season to play for Borussia Dortmund.

It was announced today on Mönchengladbach's website that the player will remain at the club for the 2011-12 season before signing a five year deal with the current German champions Dortmund for a transfer fee of 17,5 million Euros.

We've featured as many as we could, but there's always going to be a tummy or 10 that we miss.

Join us, Kickettes, as we look back at the best midsections from each of the last 12 months.

That's an order not a question.

JANUARY

Image Credit: Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe; Alex Livesay/Getty Images.

According to the description (good luck getting a universally accepted tally on this stat), guess who's currently leading Big Europe in assists this season? Yup.

It's pretty unfair when he's surrounded by that type of talent, given the fact that rolling one onto the boot of a teammate is like rolling Adriano into a buffet he's very unlikely to fluff his chance.

Bundesliga blog: The goal kings of the Bundesliga

Welcome to our new German football blog, courtesy of BundesligaFussball's Ross Dunbar *** The first half of the season in Germany came to end on Saturday with Schalke, Dortmund and FC Bayern all winning to keep the title race wide open.

Mario Gomez (left) is the top scorer in the Bundesliga this season

FC Bayern München secured the tag of Herbstmeister (autumn champions) in Germany last night. Despite going down to ten men following Franck Ribéry's red card on the half hour mark, FC Bayern were seldom troubled by visiting 1.

Bayern Munich vs Koln 3-0 Highlights Video 2011 Goals Gomez Alaba Kroos Ribery Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Bayern Munich vs Koln 3-0 Highlights Video 2011 Goals Gomez Alaba Kroos Ribery Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Bayern Munich vs Koln 2011 ( FC Bayern Koln video below) Final score and result:- Bayern vs Koln 3-0 ( Mario Gomez, David Alaba, Toni Kroos) Allianz Arena, Munich- [.

FC Barcelona won the match-up of the weekend, if not the season to date, with a thrilling 3-1 victory against arch-rival Real Madrid. Goals from Alexis Sanchez, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas helped the reigning champions erase Real Madrid's three-point hold on first place in La Liga (though Real Madrid still has a game in hand).

While Barcelona's Clásico win at Real Madrid captured headlines around the world, it was not the only significant result in Europe this weekend.

Spain
The Liga focus fell squarely on the Santiago Bernabéu this weekend as Barcelona injected fresh drama into the title race with a 3-1 comeback win at Madrid.

Tomorrow's encounter at the Etihad stadium will prove to be one of Manchester City's most important in its recent history, needing a win against an already-through Bayern Munich side as winners of Group A. Eyes in Manchester will also been on the Villarreal-Napoli tie where a Napoli win would eliminate the Citizens from the competition.

Shall we kick off proceedings with a game of 'Guess the Tushie?' Your recently demonstrated prowess in the area implied you like it. PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images.

Apologies for the dearth of flesh in today's round-up, Kickettes; it seems that the weather is closing in across Europe and the nekkid has gone into hibernation.

Bayern Munich vs Villarreal 3-1 Highlights Video 2011 Champions League Goals Ribery Gomez is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Bayern Munich vs Villarreal 3-1 Highlights Video 2011 Champions League Goals Ribery Gomez is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Bayern Munich vs Villarreal 2011 ( FC Bayern vs Villarreal CF 2011 Video Below) Score and result:- Bayern vs Villarreal 3-1 ( Franck Ribery*2, Mario Gomez/ Jonathan de Guzman) Allianz Arena, [.

Outside of the fact that everyone hates him, Manuel Neuer's life is pretty good. The best young keeper in the land, Germany's keeper, Bayern's form, getting to take naps while Mario Gomez scores like it's going out of style down the other end, etc. With such talent in front of him on both fronts, it's possible he spends his time back in net brushing up on his trivia.

Only two more rounds of the group stage of the Champions League remain, and for quite a few teams, that means the margin for error is slim to none.

Over the final two match days, there are a number of important games that will determine how things shake out. Several of Europe's elite, like Barcelona and Bayern Munich, who boast the tournament's leading scorers in Lionel Messi and Mario Gomez, are in favorable positions heading into their last two matches, but there are also a couple of notable few who still have some work to do to keep alive their quest to be the best.

Kyle Barber wrote a review of Ronald Reng's recently translated book about Robert Enke. (Bundesliga Lounge) Nick Amies examined the reasons behind Mario Gomez' Super Mario form... (Deutsche Welle) Ryan Bailey wrote about how Union Berlin is planning to sell shares of its' soul.

The last weekend in Europe ahead of the international break saw Real Madrid extend their lead in La Liga while Udinese and Lazio took advantage of some Juventus's match being postponed to move to the top of Serie A.

Spain
Real Madrid have a three-point lead at the top of the Liga table over Barcelona after Barca need a late goal from Lionel Messi to grab a point at Athletic Bilbao.

Nel Gruppo A si è svolto ieri sera, il big match di Champions. Il Napoli di Mazzarri ha dato filo da torcere all'Allianz Arena al Bayern Monaco di Heynckes, ma non è riuscito a strappare un risultato positivo. Sono stati i bavaresti, infatti, a spuntarla per 3 a 2 (tripletta di Mario Gomez per i [.

Bayern Munich stayed top of Group A of the Champions League with an epic 3-2 win over Napoli at the Alliannz Arena last-night.
Bayern raced into a 3-0 lead as Mario Gomez bagged a first half hat-trick, before Frederico Fernandes gave the Italian's hope with a goal on the stroke of half-time and it was the defender again who reduced the arrears to just one when he bagged his second of the game to set up a grandstand finish.

So it appears Halloween hasn't ended for Real Madrid who celebrated Cristiano's 100th goal last night with Raul Albiol aka "el Enmascarado : The Masked One" (say it in a deep voice, if you will please).

Real Madrid maintained their perfect record in Group D and strolled into the round of 16, while Inter Milan and Bayern Münich both took giant steps towards the knockout stages.

Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo in each half, a trademark free-kick and a penalty, were more than enough for Real Madrid as they beat Lyon 2-0 to make it four wins out of four in the Champions League this season, and they join Barcelona and AC Milan in looking up a round of 16 place with two games to spare.

Bayern Munich vs Napoli 3-2 Highlights Video Goals Gomez Fernandez 2011 Champions League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Bayern Munich vs Napoli 3-2 Highlights Video Goals Gomez Fernandez 2011 Champions League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Bayern Munich vs Napoli 2011 ( FC Bayern vs Napoli ( Neapel) 2011) Final score and result:- Bayern Munich vs Napoli 3-2 ( Mario Gomez*3, Federico Fernandez*2) Allianz Arena, Munich- 2nd [.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

A season removed from a surprising run to the 2010 Champions League Final, Bayern Munich are looking like the team to beat this time around.

Mario Gomez netted a hat trick as Bayern Munich rolled to an impressive 3-2 victory over Napoli. The German striker opened the scoring by finishing off a pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 17th minute.

Mario Gomez scored three goals by the half, bringing his Champions League tally to 5 goal in 4 games, to go along with its Bundesliga counterpart of 12 in 10. In a few words, he's untouchable right now.

And yet, the most memorable will be the one he didn't score in the final seconds of the game, turning Morgan De Sanctis into a hero just moments before Napoli lost.

Mario Gomez scored three goals by the half, bringing his Champions League tally to 5 goal in 4 games, to go along with its Bundesliga counterpart of 12 in 10. In a few words, he's untouchable right now.

And yet, the most memorable will be the one he didn't score in the final seconds of the game, turning Morgan De Sanctis into a hero just moments before Napoli lost.

Bayern Monaco – Napoli 3-2: impresa sfiorata Di Paolo Esposito Poteva finire in goleada in favore del Bayern, alla fine tutti sono concordi nel definirla una mezza impresa da parte del Napoli. Il Bayern parte fortissimo e nel giro di nemmeno un tempo è sopra tre a zero, con una tripletta di Super Mario Gomez, un attaccante che segna in tutti i modi e non da punti di riferimento ai suoi marcatori,

Arsenal speeds into fifth gear - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The Arsene Wenger philosophy has been much criticised and maligned this season. Some will so say rightly so, and others will defend the Arsenal manager.

Yet Saturday's result against Chelsea has shown that Arsenal and their manager have grown a new skin.

Liverpool has been alerted to Bayern Munich striker Ivica Olic, who has voiced his dissatisfaction at being left on the sidelines.
The Croatian, who had been linked with a surprise move to Liverpool over the summer has re-emerged as a target, after revealing to Goal.com his desire to leave the club if he remains on the substitute's bench.

In der Aktion davor bin ich von der Mittellinie nach vorne gelaufen und habe überlegt, wohin ich den Ball schieße. Eigentlich wollte ich ihn in die Mitte schießen, dann ging er doch nach rechts unten. Man sollte immer beim ersten Gedanken bleiben.

Mario Gomez, Stürmer des FC Bayern München, erklärt seinen verschossenen Elfmeter im Champions League Spiel gegen den SSC Neapel.