Dortmund (AP) – When Marco Rose was asked about his assessment of Tom Rothe’s performance, he frowned.
“That’s a rhetorical question, isn’t it?” asked the Borussia Dortmund coach. 17-year-old Rothe’s Bundesliga debut required no comment. The facts spoke for themselves.
When the line-up was read out around 3:20 p.m., the teenager was noticeably unknown to many BVB fans, half an hour later he had made his way into some leaderboards, and during the game he received the previously non-existent Wikipedia entry. He is the youngest defender in Borussia and his goal to make it 1-0 in the 6-1 win against VfL Wolfsburg made him the fourth youngest goalscorer in league history.
“Not too bad,” Rothe said, laughing as he saw his hit on screen during the interview. He no longer needs Easter presents: “I’m happy with the game. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to collecting eggs with the family.”
The U19 national player, who had never been in the Bundesliga squad before, was “very mellow for his age”, Rose stated: “He showed us that we rightly threw him in. I hope that’s an incentive for more. ” Rothe assured him that he would continue to work hard: “And keep the ball flat.”