In football language, the term grenade does not describe a murder tool, but a compliment for excellent properties. Footballers can both be “humanly a grenade”, as a colleague recently attested to Schalke striker Simon Terodde, and also be elevated to the rank of explosive device, as Borussia Mönchengladbach’s coach Adi Hütter did on Wednesday evening when he paid tribute to attacker Breel Embolo . “With his force and speed and power he is of course an absolute grenade”, the Austrian coach praised the Swiss striker, who scored two goals and prepared two more goals in the already fabulous 5-0 cup win against FC Bayern. An absolute grenade is close to the maximum that the industry jargon has to offer: the seal of approval “full grenade”. The latter leaves no doubt about the top class of the player.
In the case of Embolo, 24, the experts still don’t quite know how to classify him, he has often been said to have the assets for a great career, but he has only met his expectations for a moment. His amazingly perfect performance against Bayern showed that he could be a man for the particularly high demands, it was probably his best performance since he came to Germany from Basel five years ago for more than a handful of francs. At that time, Schalke 04 went the furthest in the international bidding competition and got a lot out of it. Three years later, the Schalke Embolo had to give up not even half the price to the Gladbacher Borussia. Whereby the financial deficit may have hurt them more than the sporting loss.
All these years he remained a yes-but-player
Embolo has always made an impression with the physical virtues his coach has just mentioned. In terms of football, however, he often aroused unpleasant amazement when he failed again to simply accept the ball or the pass slipped beyond recognition. Embolo remained a yes-but-player all these years, despite increases and strong phases: yes, he did this great, but unfortunately not this one … On Wednesday evening, the audience finally experienced him as a complete player who combines physique and technique knows how to read the course of the game.
Breel Embolo, born in Yaounde in Cameroon, came to Basel at the age of six and has been familiar with the Bundesliga since childhood. The neighboring country became a footballing country he longed for, the top German league was “a bit the big brother of the Swiss league,” he once explained why he had decided to work in Germany instead of England or Spain. He had already joined FC Basel as a young boy. When he was 13, 14 years old, he began to believe in a professional career. He describes himself as a lucky child: “I was always one of those fit players who were never injured. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself, nor did I have any pressure from my family. I was allowed to go out, meet my friends, experience things, I had to do not renounce my youth. “
The thing about the party in Essen
That life as a prominent professional is unfortunately a bit more complicated, Embolo had to find out during the lockdown, when he was caught by the police in January in the vicinity of an unauthorized party in Essen. “Environment” means: He was not found at the scene of the crime, a café-bar, but in the neighboring apartment, where he allegedly found refuge just in time with a climb over the roof. In the middle-class Borussia, scandals are not really valued, but Embolo got away with a (heavy) fine and a reprimand. Which also has to do with his charm and his winning nature. In terms of football, he still has to improve, but in human terms he may already be a grenade.