Piszczek sweeps Player of Matchday 16 vote
Munich - Borussia Dortmund's returning right-back Lukasz Piszczek ran away with the Matchday 16 Player of the Week vote after a barnstorming display to inspire his side to a 2-2 draw with 1899 Hoffenheim.
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Despite the fact that Dortmund dropped two points in Sinsheim, a hefty 57 per cent of
bundesliga.com
voters chose the Poland international as the best player of the Matchday. Indeed, his heartwarming return from injury couldn't have come at a better time for Jürgen Klopp's team.
On only his second start this season, Piszczek made the most sprints, had the most touches and fired in the most shots as Dortmund bounced back from an early two-goal deficit. After five months on the sidelines, such a display is a sure indication that the 28-year-old is returning to the kind of form which helped drive his team to the UEFA Champions League final last season, and also brought him two Bundesliga strikes. His latest effort typified his and Dortmund's display against Hoffenheim - having seen his initial header saved, Piszczek was the quickest to react to the rebound, poking home beyond a helpless Jens Grahl. In joint second place, with 13 per cent of the users' vote each, came two of the Bundesliga's undisputed classical playmakers: FC Bayern München's
and VfL Wolfsburg's
.
Braces all round
Alcantara produced a performance which made it easy to see why coach Pep Guardiola had described him as "my ideal player" back in August. With 128 touches, the young Spaniard topped the Bundesliga charts for the second week in three, pulling the strings in Bayern's
over Hamburger SV. Similarly to Piszczek, Diego crowned his comeback from injury with his 13th goal direct from a free-kick in Wolfsburg's
over VfB Stuttgart.
scored a brace in Hertha Berlin's thrilling
over SV Werder Bremen on Friday night, his ninth and tenth goals of the season taking him to second in the scorers' charts and earning him seven per cent of the vote.
's double in FC Augsburg's
against Eintracht Braunschweig garnered him six per cent of the vote, while
's goal and assist in FC Schalke 04's
over SC Freiburg meant he brought up the rear with four per cent.
Piszczek
's cause was certainly boosted by the support of his club, who tweeted to encourage their fans to vote...
See for yourself why
Piszczek
was voted Matchday 16 Player of the week, courtesy of the
official Bundesliga YouTube channel
: