Only days after a midweek masterclass for Serhou Guirassy in the UEFA Champions League, the Guinea striker was once again among the goals on the weekend as Borussia Dortmund continued their push for a place in next season’s UCL.
Despite his hat-trick, BVB were knocked out 5-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals by Barcelona, but Guirassy’s domestic form is continuing to revive the club’s hopes of finishing in the top four.
Their victory over Borussia Monchengladbach in Sunday’s ‘Boruss-ico’ took them to within four points of RB Leipzig in fourth, and the final UCL qualifying position.
Coach Kovac’s biggest win
This season is unlikely to live too long in the memory for Dortmund fans, with the club’s attempt to turn over a new leaf under former midfield hero Nuri Sahin failing miserably in the first half of the season.
The reboot didn’t last long; Sahin was dismissed in January, with the club in the bottom half of the table, the famous black and yellow tarnished as the former European champions continued their identity crisis.
The club’s appointment of Niko Kovac in January was clearly a change of tack; he is neither a tactician aligned with BVB’s on-field values, nor a former player with an existing emotional connection with the supporter base.
So far, things are working out; Dortmund were eleventh when Kovac was appointed, and have since climbed to seventh, losing just four of eleven Bundesliga games since his arrival.
Kovac may have arrived with a defence-first reputation, but one of the Croatian’s greatest successes so far has been getting the most out of 29-year-old Guirassy.
The west African surely kept Sahin in post longer than might have been expected during the first half of the campaign – with critical goals against Leipzig, St. Pauli and Bochum – and enjoyed a decent scoring record before the ex-Turkey international’s exit, bagging 14 in 23 under the former head coach.
This weekend, however, he surpassed that tally in fewer matches under Kovac – who once described Guirassy as Dortmund’s ‘life insurance’ – scoring his 15th across 18 appearances since Sahin departed.
It was another major contribution as well, with Guirassy equalising for the hosts late in the first half after Ko Itakura had given visiting Gladbach an early advantage.
His goal opened the floodgates for Dortmund, with Felix Nmecha and Daniel Svensson both scoring in the dying exchanges of the first-half to give Kovac’s side some breathing room at the break.
Guirassy arguably ought to have been awarded an assist for Dortmund’s third, as another shot from inside the box was saved by Omlin, but the Switzerland stopper was only able to paw it into Svensson’s path.
While the likes of Gross and Svensson continue to step into pivotal roles for the beleaguered heavyweights, it was Guirassy’s finish – the striker so unflinching in the opposition box – which truly turned the contest in Dortmund’s favour.
His overall contribution this term has also been notable, with Guirassy’s overall workrate, his self-sacrifice, his commitment to the cause, his confidence in his possession, and his ability to get the best out of those around him at least keeping Dortmund in touch with the other UCL hopefuls.
Credit must also go to Anglo-Nigerian wunderkind Carney Chukwuemeka – a February loan arrival from Chelsea – whose determined running and imaginative probing play in the midfield, following his 35th-minute introduction for Maximilian Beier, helped the hosts forge openings in the Gladbach defence.
Guirassy’s opener was his 16th league goal of the campaign, moving him above the now departed (to Manchester City) Omar Marmoush as the division’s top scoring African player, although he remains eight behind Harry Kane at the top of the goal charts… and some way off his 28-goal haul with Stuttgart last season.
BVB are now undefeated in their last four in the Bundesliga, having climbed up to the brink of the continental places; victory at Hoffenheim and Saturday could take them to fifth with three to play; a return to Europe’s top table is in view.
Heroics against Barca in vain
Guirassy’s latest star turn comes on the back of his masterclass against Barcelona in midweek, as Dortmund – in a microcosm of their domestic campaign – attempted to salvage something from a sluggish start.
Down 4-0 to Barcelona in the first leg of their UCL quarterfinal, Dortmund were all but written off before the return fixture in Germany in midweek.
Inspired, Guirassy put them two goals up on the night, before a Ramy Bensebaini own goal early in the second half left them requiring three goals in half an hour to extend the tie into extra time.
The Guinean did net another – completing the second hat-trick of his Dortmund career – but even he wasn’t able to complete a miracle comeback.
Nonetheless, this was emphatic demonstration that Guirassy belongs at the absolute top end of European competition, while he enters into the rarefied pantheon of African stars to have scored hat-tricks in the Champions League.
Guirassy’s triple makes him the eighth African player to score a hat-trick in the competition during its UCL era, and the third – following in the footsteps of Sadio Mané and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – to score three in a knockout tie.
With the semis and final still to play, Guirassy is on course to become the first African player in 30 years to end the campaign with the UCL Golden Boot, with his haul of 13 goals in 14 outings currently putting him clear of the likes of Raphinha (12), Robert Lewandowski (11) and Lautaro Martínez (eight), who are all still alive in the competition.
For context, neither Lewandowski nor Erling Haaland, during their times at Dortmund, managed more than 10 UCL goals in a single campaign.
Craig Burley and Alejandro Moreno preview the Champions League semifinal between Inter Milan and Barcelona.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be the top scorer in the Champions League, especially among so many incredible players,” Guirassy said after his midweek showing. “Leading the charts shows I’m a strong finisher, but none of it would be possible without the support of my teammates.
“I can’t achieve this on my own.”
Never before has an African player scored more than Guirassy’s 13 in a single UCL campaign, a remarkable return for a striker who had only twice before netted in the competition – for Stade Rennais in 2020-21 – before this season.
A late bloomer, like Drogba, Guirassy’s road to the top has been winding and arduous – he had never hit double figures in a single league campaign before 2021 – but his belated arrival at the pinnacle of the European game is testament to his determination and commitment to his career.
A knee injury delayed his initial impact at Dortmund, but as this season draws to a close, Guirassy is deservedly being recognised among Europe’s finest goal-getters.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll remain another campaign in the Ruhr basin; with transfer speculation intensifying, it may be that UCL qualification this term could prove Guirassy’s parting gift rather than a chance to go again with Kovac’s Dortmund in the competition.
Linked with Arsenal, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan among others a year ago, Europe’s elite will doubtless be casting covetous glances Guirassy’s way again during the summer transfer window.
Sky Sport Germany have revealed that, after the Club World Cup in the United States in June, a clutch of top European clubs will be able to trigger a release clause in the striker’s contract, and while there’s no indication that Guirassy is looking elsewhere now, could that change if Dortmund fail to return to the Champions League?