Kev Taking Tips Off Koeman

Kevin Mirallas has revealed how his stunning set-piece goal against Barnsley came after he received some tips from new Blues boss Ronald Koeman.

The Dutchman was a renowned dead-ball specialist during his playing career, netting one particularly memorable free-kick to win the European Cup for Barcelona in 1992 and another for Holland against England in World Cup qualifying the following year.

On Saturday, Mirallas picked himself up after an early foul to curl an exquisite opener past goalkeeper Adam Davies and, speaking after the eventual 3-0 win, the winger told evertontv: "I work two or three times a week [on my free-kicks]. Now, the new manager is someone who had that as a speciality when he played. He's had a few words with me about shooting and now I've scored and I'm very happy.

"We had a training game in Austria but [Saturday] was really the first game in pre-season. We won 3-0 and that's good because a lot of the players only came back this week for training but the team played well.


"It was a good game. Barnsley created a few chances but the defence played well, Joel [Robles] played well and it was a good game for pre-season."

With Romelu Lukaku yet to return to training following his role with Belgium at Euro 2016, Koeman elected to try winger Gerard Deulofeu in a more advanced forward role at Oakwell.

The 22-year-old impressed, too, grabbing the second goal after latching on to an incisive pass from the afternoon's other scorer, Ross Barkley.

"Geri played striker, which was a surprise for everybody, for him as well, but he played very well, showed his pace and scored a nice goal," assessed Mirallas. "I don't know if it's his position for the future but he played very well today.

"The next game comes quickly for us now and we need to prepare because it's not easy to play every three days. But we have a good squad, so there's no problem with that."

The Blues take on MK Dons at Stadium MK on Tuesday (kick off 7.45pm) in a game that will be shown live on evertontv! The match is available for just £3.99 or as part of a special three-game package. To sign up or for more information, click here.