POTM (Europe) – December 2024

December saw the hectic end to another calendar year of action, and while there is so much action to pick through from the last month, we have seen some hugely impressive runs of form from some key players across Europe’s top leagues who ended their year in style.
This months NextGoalWinner player of the month winner is a goal scorer who has had a key role in his club’s 100% record across all competitions as they won 3 out of 3 Bundesliga games, and beat some tricky opponents in the DFB Pokal and Champions League clashes. With 3 goals and 3 assists across his 3 league outings, his role was once again influential as his club rounded off a historic 2024.
Florian Wirtz has played a pivotal role in Bayer Leverkusen’s success over the last calendar year, and with his 6 goal contributions in the 3 league games, he was hugely influential in this month to round off the incredible year that Leverkusen have achieved. With everything seemingly going his way in December, the 21 year old will be flying high as his club head into the winter break across Germany with hopes of adding to last years trophy haul still very much alive.
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Match By Match
December 7th: Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 St. Pauli – Starting off the month in style after they beat Bayern Munich in he DFB Pokal clash 4 days prior, Leverkusen hosted St. Pauli as Wirtz opened the scoring in the 6th minute. With Tah making it 2-0 by the 21st minute, the game was truly out of sight despite St. Pauli’s late consolation strike. Wirtz player a key role in the game as he earnt an 8.0/10 FotMob rating for his contribution across the 79 minutes played. A big start for the month as confidence continued to grow around the club after their cup and now league strong start to the month.
December 14th: Augsburg 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen – After bagging a late win against an impressive Inter side in the Champions League group which saw Leverkusen jumping to second in the standings, they also continued making light work of the league games this month as they travelled to Augsburg and picked up a comfortable victory. With 2 goals in the first half, Wirtz bagged the second in the 40th minute which was a key factor in his man of the match performance.
December 21st: Bayer Leverkusen 5-1 Freiburg – Going into the winter break with a perfect 100% record for Leverkusen in December, Wirtz made it 3 goals in 3 Bundesliga games, and it was his 3 assists that showed his quality. Although overshadowed by Schick’s 4 goal haul, it was in large part due to Florian Wirtz’s efforts as he provided the assist for the first 3 of his strikes. With a goal himself on the day also, he had missed a chance early on when he missed the first half penalty. With this huge contribution he earnt himself a 9.3/10 FotMob rating for his performance which also included completing the most dribbles (6) and winning the most duels (10).