 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Explosive debut Schalke's Altintop takes Bundesliga by stormPosted: Monday August 04, 2003 10:31 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Hamit Altintop had never played a Bundesliga match until last weekend, but by Monday he was big news all over in Germany. The Turkish midfielder burst into the limelight by scoring two superb goals for Schalke 04 in its 2-2 draw with Ruhr rival Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. It was a fairytale debut for the 20-year-old, playing his first league match for the club from Gelsenkirchen, the town where he was born. A member of the Ruhr Valley's large Turkish community, Altintop joined Schalke from amateur Wattenscheid for a tiny transfer fee. New Schalke coach Jupp Heynckes was so impressed by the youngster's performances in warmup games that he decided to field him from the start on Saturday -- and it paid off. Playing with plenty of confidence, Altintop had tried his luck several times before opening the scoring with a thunderous drive from 25 meters out in the 39th minute. He was on target again in the 58th minute, this time with a low, angled effort after a brilliant solo run. Henyckes, who coached Bayern Munich to two German titles and steered Real Madrid to a European Cup triumph in 1998, was impressed. "His dribbling and the way he's able to change pace remind me of Lothar Matthaeus," said the Schalke coach. Disappointed Even the fact that Dortmund fought back to snatch a draw at the death courtesy of a blunder from Altintop could not spoil the story. "I'm really disappointed," Altintop said. "I would be more happy if I hadn't scored and we had won." Still, every German newspaper gave him top ratings for his display and there was even some praise from Germany coach Rudi Voeller, despite the fact he would not be able to select the Turkish under-21 international. "What I liked the most is that he had a few bad misses but always kept trying," said Voeller. "Such beautiful goals are excellent news for German football." Altintop, whose twin brother Halil plays for Kaiserslautern, is learning fast and showed Saturday that he was already an expert in the art of answering reporters' questions. "I don't know exactly," he said when asked him how old his mother was. "Late 50s, early 60s, something like that."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
