Anger is the best medicine

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2020 (2115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Almost exactly a year ago, it all started to come together for Serge Gnabry.

A 5-1 humiliation at Eintracht Frankfurt had resulted in the sacking of Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac, and a week later, in Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund, the then-24-year-old scored his third goal of the Bundesliga season in a 4-0 victory at Allianz-Arena.

He’d notch nine more en route to the title — a surprising haul that went along with a pair of tallies in the DFB-Pokal and another nine in the Champions League. Bayern won those trophies, too, becoming just the second club to do the treble twice.

It was a Gnabry brace that helped the German outfit to a 3-0 win over Lyon in the last four of the European Cup, and he also scored against Bayer Leverkusen in the cup final. As if to underline his ascendancy as one of the continent’s form attackers, he bagged six goals for Germany in 2019-20.

All of this from a player who had been frozen out at West Bromwich Albion, who had been told by Baggies manager Tony Pulis that he wasn’t cut out for Premier League football, and who, quite unfairly, had been labelled as lazy, unfit and disinterred by an English press corps that ignored the fact that he’d suffered a potentially career-threatening knee injury the year before.

“It unlocked an emotion that I never really had when I was growing up,” he wrote in the Players Tribune back in May. “Anger. 100%. Anger.”

Gnabry channeled his anger into performances on the pitch. He made a humble move to Werder Bremen, where he was able to get regular minutes, and then he joined Hoffenheim, scoring 10 Bundesliga goals and catching the eye of Bayern Munich, who paid his US10.5-million release clause.

He rewarded the Bundesliga giants with 13 goals in his first season at the club, and his 23 in all competitions last term represented a career high.

Naturally, with the goals has come confidence.

A regular selection by Bayern manager Hansi Flick, Gnabry operates to the right of talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski, cutting inside to release powerful shots with his left foot, as he did for last weekend’s winner away to Koln.]

He’s also working on his playmaking — a skill that can only be lethal in a team that features not only Lewandowski but also Thomas Muller and one of Leroy Sane and Kingsley Coman.

Now 25, he’s in what should be his prime, but, with the injuries he’s had to overcome, as well as the negativity from previous managers and the press, he hasn’t played a lot of football for a player his age. In a way, Bayern picked up an attacker with few miles on him, never mind the chip on his shoulder.

With four goals to show from five Bundesliga matches, this could well be Gnabry’s best season yet. And a year on from his goal-scoring performance against Dortmund, Bayern will be counting on him to produce again in today’s top-of-the-table Klassiker at the Westfalenstadion (11:30 a.m., Sportsnet).

“I don’t take the opportunity for granted, especially now, with football gone for so long,” he wrote. “You can’t feel too bad with a ball at your feet.”

Spot-kicks

n Going into today’s Klassiker, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are level atop the standings with 15 points from six matches. With 24 goals, Bayern have the most potent offence in the Bundesliga, but with only two concessions, Dortmund’s defence is the best in the division.

‘It unlocked an emotion that I never really had when I was growing up. Anger. 100%. Anger’– Serge Gnabry, who was cast aside by West Bromwich 

n Robert Lewandowski is predictably atop the scoring chart with 10 goals, but Dortmund striker Erling Haaland is third with five. Serge Gnabry and teammate Thomas Muller have four apiece.

n Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich might be the world’s best midfielder at the moment. Not only does the 25-year-old have a goal and four assists to show from five outings, but he’s also averaging 77 passes per match at an efficiency of 90 per cent.

n Dortmund midfielder Axel Witsel is passing at a rate of 96 per cent, the best in the Bundesliga.

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n Canada international and Bayern left-back Alphonso Davies will miss Der Klassiker after suffering an ankle injury.

n Projected Dortmund XI: Burki; Meunier, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Dahoud, Witsel; Sancho, Reus, Reyna; Haaland.

n Projected Bayern XI: Neuer; Pavard, Alaba, Boateng, Hernandez; Kimmich, Goretzka; Gnabry, Muller, Sane; Lewandowski.

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Twitter @JerradPeters