Many well-known faces from German football now play abroad, largely unnoticed by the German media. In the sport.de spotlight today: a former goalkeeper at FC Schalke 04 is celebrating a horrific anniversary, a former BVB loan player is on a crazy winning streak and a former hopeful from FC Bayern is suffering from bad luck with injuries.
“It was a pleasure to watch him. How he saved Tadic’s shot, how fantastically he saved his penalty and Klaassen’s ball just before the half-time whistle – he was really good a few times,” praised Dutch football expert Tijmen van Wissing von “RTV East” the performance that Lars Unnerstall conjured up on the lawn in his 100th appearance in the Eredivisie. Nice words that make you almost forget how the game was going.
Because Unnerstall, who between 2010 and the end of 2013 kept goal for the FC Schalke 04 pros 47 times, is unlikely to remember his anniversary as well. With FC Twente, the 31-year-old made a guest appearance at the all-powerful leaders Ajax Amsterdam last Sunday – and went for a swim.
Despite all brilliant deeds, the capital city swept the table fifth with 5:0 off the pitch. In addition, Unnerstall did not cut a good figure in the 0:1 by ex-Bremer Davy Klaassen. “Of course there were some good saves, but I should have stopped when I conceded the first goal, and I should have handled the situation better when I conceded the second”, Unnerstall smothered the hymns of praise even after the game.
Ex-professional of FC Schalke 04 a “supplier of points”
The ultimately sobering anniversary cannot hide the fact that the keeper in Enschede is experiencing perhaps the best phase of his career. After years of commuting between the bank and the regular place, Unnerstall on the German border has complete confidence: if the 1.98 meter tall giant is fit, he also plays.
Coach Ron Jans even described his goalkeeper, who switched from PSV Eindhoven to the “Tukkers” before the season, as a “supplier of points”. In mid-September, the Dutch press praised “Superlatives are not enough“.
So it’s no wonder that even after a mega-clap in the 100th game in the Dutch upper house, the popularity doesn’t stop. Unnerstall’s mood should lighten up only a little, however.
It wasn’t enough for VfL Bochum and BVB
A direct competitor of Twente and Unnerstall in the battle for the playoffs to participate in the Europa Conference League took advantage of the bankruptcy: AZ Alkmaar won 4-1 at the Go Ahead Eagles and passed Twente in the table.
The match winner was a striker who once waited in vain for his breakthrough at VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund: Vangelis Pavlidis. The 23-year-old, who is now an integral part of Greece’s senior squad, scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season in all competitions, underlining his status as a two-time champion.
It was not really foreseeable that Pavlidis would one day cause fear and terror in the opposing penalty areas. The attacker was convincing in the youth of VfL Bochum, but not more than flying visits to the professional department of the then second division club followed. However, BVB still saw talent and decided to loan the Greek for a year in January 2018 – the great success did not materialize.
Things are going all the better in Alkmaar, where Pavlidis and Co. have been unbeaten for a whopping 16 competitive games.
No luck after leaving Bayern
While Pavlidis appears to have found happiness, Meritan Shabani is light years away. Born in Munich, Bayern Munich was once believed to be able to leave big footprints.
After his professional debut at the end of April 2018, Shabani fled to the English first division club Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2019 – then the bad luck with injuries hit mercilessly.
On his first appearance for Wolves, the midfielder tore his cruciate ligament, was out for almost a year, returned and had to miss another year.
The last update was in October 2021. At that time, Bruno Lage explained that Shabani was still working with the physios and still needed time to get back into team training. An end to the odyssey is not yet in sight.
Marc Affeldt