Salzburg (dpa) – Karim Adeyemi has been looking forward to this football evening since the draw for the first knockout round of the Champions League shortly before Christmas.
It is something very special for the native of Munich, who played for FC Bayern from the age of eight to ten, to play with Red Bull Salzburg against his youth club at 9 p.m. on Europe’s largest club stage. The 20-year-old national soccer player is the focus of attention in the sold-out Red Bull Arena with almost 30,000 spectators. It’s supposed to be his evening.
Salzburg’s hopes rest on Adeyemi
“I’m a Munich boy. It’s an honor to play against Bayern again,” said Adeyemi ahead of the round of 16 first leg. When he announced that on Tuesday, he didn’t seem nervous at all. And the young international assured: “It’s not rivalry.” He was surprisingly relaxed: “You’re just happy to play in the Champions League against such a good opponent and to prove yourself.”
Salzburg’s hopes rest on Adeyemi, along with his attacking partner Noah Okafor. Both have scored three times each in the current competition. “I think we can make Bayern’s life difficult with our quality, our young approach to the game, our intensity. The overall package can be a block on the leg for Bayern,” Adeyemi said briskly before the showdown with an opponent “who has a lot of maturity and quality”.
Adeyemi has developed well
The lightning-fast and assertive young star had contact with national team colleague Serge Gnabry beforehand. “We exchanged a bit and are happy to see each other again,” said Adeyemi. In his international debut at the beginning of September last year in the 6-0 win against Armenia in Stuttgart, he came on for Gnabry and promptly scored his first DFB goal.
Salzburg is a springboard for young players. Adeyemi could go the way of striker Erling Haaland, who also made his way to the Bundesliga via Salzburg – to Borussia Dortmund. The explosive attacker and World Cup candidate, who verbally switched to the defensive when it came to the BVB transfer, is said to cost over 30 million euros: “My focus is here in Salzburg. It’s not clear yet. What happens in summer happens in summer”, he said before the duel with Bayern.
As a young boy, Adeyemi wore the Munich jersey. “Then they separated from him at the time – for educational reasons,” as ex-CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the German Press Agency. Adeyemi came to Salzburg in 2019 via SpVgg Unterhaching. “He has developed well. He took the big step in Salzburg and then also with Hansi Flick, who put his trust in him as national coach. Now he has to confirm everything and take the next step,” said Rummenigge.
“He’s now ready for the next step”
There will be no expensive return campaign to FC Bayern, as Honorary President Uli Hoeneß said before the reunion. “The problem is, when you get a player like that, you also have to show him perspectives,” said Hoeneß. So Adeyemi will soon wear the BVB jersey and then become Bayern’s opponent every year.
Bayern rival Dortmund finds it easier to offer Adeyemi a sporting perspective, Hoeneß thinks: “We have Lewandowski, Coman, Sané, Gnabry, Musiala up front. It’s difficult for you to make it clear to the player that you’ll get a regular place with us. Otherwise that would certainly be a player that would have to be dealt with more intensively,” said the Munich honorary president on Servus TV.
Rummenigge also expects that Adeyemi will not play much longer in the smaller Austrian Bundesliga, where he is the top scorer of the season with 14 goals. The former Bayern boss expects a transfer in the summer. “In the Austrian league he now has a certain cuddle factor. He has a team there that is very well positioned and wins the championship every year. It’s a lot easier as a young player,” explained Rummenigge: “I think , he is now ready for the next step.” After two good round of 16 games against Bayern, that could be even more true.