Power Serge
As Germany prepare to do battle with France and Portugal in their Euro 2020 “Group of Death”, Bundestrainer Joachim Low will have one overriding wish this year: that front-running virtuoso Serge Gnabry suffers no further injuries after an Achilles problem just before Christmas.
Over the last 12 months or so, the 24-year-old Bayern Munich forward has morphed into a Nationalmannschaft talisman, not only emerging as the team’s top scorer in the European Championship qualifiers with eight goals but also supplying much of the team’s attacking explosiveness and craft.
While the Stuttgart-born star normally operates on the right wing for Bayern, Low likes to unleash him in several different ways in national team colours – sometimes out wide, on other occasions as a second striker or as leader of the line. In a German side in transition following the debacle of Russia 2018 he is now a gold-plated reference point; both game-changer and tone-setter.
The son of an Ivorian father and German mother, Gnabry is the complete weapons-grade package. Short, squat and powerful, he can leave defenders for dead with his pace and tricks. He has two good feet, is sharp and clever on the counter-attack, and boasts a fine football brain. Often the quickest players have the worst on-field instincts, but he stands for the best of both worlds.
He is a natural finisher, too. One only has to look at his recent highlights reel: a four-goal blitz in Bayern’s 7-2 Champions League win away at Tottenham Hotspur in October; his hat-trick as Germany crushed Northern Ireland 6-1 in a Euro 2020 qualifier; and his magnificent solo strike in the 3-2 victory in Holland
