The impressive starting XI debut of "street footballer" Chukwuemeka | OneFootball

Carney Chukwuemeka entered more challenges than any other player (27) during his 68 minutes of action in the 4-1 away win in Freiburg. He won a good 59% of them and completed an outstanding 95% of his passes to teammates. If he'd played the entire match, the Chelsea loanee would have covered over 12 kilometres. His outstanding technique was on full display as he scored the second goal and set up the following one that made it 3-0.

"Carney is an exceptional footballer who had some catching up to do. He showed what he can do. And I'm delighted that he has got his reward," explained head coach Niko Kovac, adding: "You can see why we signed him. He is a promising player. I hope he can continue like this."

The 21-year-old had many impressive moments, demonstrating again and again his excellent vision. "He's brutally strong, the boy," praised Gregor Kobel, adding: "You could see from the first training session that he has very good athleticism, such agility, such speed. And he's brave. He always wants the ball. Carney is very, very good for us." The stats at half-time showed that Chukwuemeka was having an outstanding game. But he saw things differently in an interview with BVB-TV: "To be honest, I didn't think I played that well in the first half. So I went into the second half thinking that I still needed to improve a lot." He had a big part to play in the second goal, and then provided the assist for the third. "I could see Felix (Nmecha, ed.) preparing to come on, And I had the feeling that it was to replace me. When the ball came to me, I just thought: Oh, I have to make a mark in this game. It was a nice pass. Julian (Brandt) and Serhou (Guirassy) did the rest," he said.

"We put our trust in him from the start today," said sporting director Sebastian Kehl regarding the coach's decision. It certainly paid off: "Carney did a lot of good things. He has to continue like this." Karim Adeyemi, who paved the way for the away win in Freiburg with the opening goal, described his colleague as "a very chilled guy, a bit of a street footballer, definitely very handy in the midfield. His quality helps us and I'm pleased for him that he scored a goal today. He is capable of doing the same in the next few games."

The player in question was delighted and explained on ZDF: "It's a big step for me. I haven't played much. That's why I needed a starting XI appearance like this - both physically and to get used to playing with my teammates on the pitch. It was good."