Niko Kovač Hails Franck Ribéry After Frenchman Nets Brace Against Eintracht Frankfurt
Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovač has praised the performance of veteran winger Franck Ribéry after the Frenchman scored twice in Die Roten's 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The 35-year-old, whose contract expires in the summer, netted ten minutes prior to the interval, before slotting home his second of the night in the 79th minute, with Rafinha adding a third to seal the victory away from home.
The result saw the Bavarians finish the calendar year six points adrift of league leaders and rivals Borussia Dortmund, but the Croat was immensely proud of Ribéry, who netted in his second consecutive league match.
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As quoted by the official Bundesliga website, Kovač said: "Franck Ribéry has worked hard and done really well in the last few games. Compliments to him, it's just a pity that he's already 35-years-old."
Kovač was returning to the Commerzbank-Arena for the first time since he was appointed Bayern manager. He had a two-year spell with Die Adler which concluded following the DFB-Pokal success, which the Croat had won at the expense of current side Bayern.
The Croatian was pleased with his team's display against his former side, but believed the first 20 minutes of the game wasn't their best, as they struggled to cope with the threat of their opposition on break.
As quoted by Bayern's official website, the Croat said: "It was a really good performance from our team except for the first 20 minutes, because we had not managed to stop the counter-attack or we had made a few mistakes.
"After that, we acknowledged what we wanted to do. We ran the ball fast with few touches, so the opponents were not able press. The last games were very good, that's what makes Bayern the winner."
