Dortmund talents Adeyemi and Moukoko comment on successful U21 deployments

Even if there were plenty of flaws inherent in their performance last night, young German talents Youssoufa Moukoko and Karim Adeyemi struck a positive tone in their post-match comments following the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria. 

A 3-2 victory of the Bulgarian U21s last night left young German talents Youssoufa Moukoko and Karim Adeyemi with plenty to reflect upon. Adeyemi – spending the international break with the German U21s in hopes of breaking out of a form slump – spurned several quality chances to score and was also booked early on.

“It wasn’t perfect,” Adeyemi said when commenting on what was a spirited, if unpolished, performance from him when speaking to traveling correspondent Michael Pfeiffer of Germany’s Kicker Magazine “but it wasn’t easy to play a tough opponent away from home. I wanted to help the team and feel like I did that.”

“A shame that I misjudged a chance after what was a good move,” Adeyemi said of an opportunity to put the game to bed in the 80th minute that he missed, “It would have been nice if it had gone in.”

“I had to get control of myself,” Adeyemi remarked when asked about his booking after getting involved in a tussle with Bulgaria’s Stanislav Shopov at the quarter-of-an-hour mark, “I wasn’t always happy with the referee’s decisions either, but in the end I managed not to get booked again.”

The man responsible for all three of Germany’s goals happened to be Adeyemi’s Borussia Dortmund teammate Youssoufa Moukoko. The 18-year-old phenom admitted that his second goal – one that slipped through following an absolute howler from Bulgarian keeper Plamen Andreev – was pretty fluky.

“I never scored a goal like that before,” Moukoko said when conducting his post-match-interview with German broadcaster ProSieben Maxx, “I didn’t even see the ball go in. I only heard the boys shouting. I was a bit confused as well.”

Like Adeyemi, Moukoko is struggling to earn minutes with his club. The teenage talent has made just four appearances as a sub for Edin Terzic’s BVB this season. He’s remained unused on the bench in the last three Bundesliga match-days. Moukoko – naturally all smiles after playing the full 90 minutes for Antonio di Salvo’s DFB Juniors – shrugged off a question about his status with his club.

“I’m getting the balls that I need and the U21s are doing me good,” Moukoko told his interviewer, “You can see that I’m in the right place. The coach trusts me. It’s a nice feeling. If the boys want to go out, I’ll pay for everything.”

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