Malick Thiaw was entrusted from the first minute by Stefano Pioli in each of the last two games which both resulted in 1-0 wins as the German defender continues to show promise.
La Gazzetta dello Sport speak about the ‘Dusseldorf Wall’ in Thiaw, who got the nod to start a second straight game during last night’s Champions League round of 16 win against Spurs in front of nearly 75,000 fans at San Siro.
Thiaw made his first UCL appearance took to the most prestigious stage with the confidence that suggested it was his 100th, becoming a protagonist thanks to a fantastic display of grit, athleticism and intelligence.
“To convince Pioli to insert me [into the UCL squad list] as early as January, a complete package will be needed, not just a single reason. I’ll try to put all the aggression that is needed,” Thiaw said after arriving towards the end of August.
When he showed up at the press conference alongside Massara and Maldini, he also spoke of himself with a good pinch of audacity: “I’m strong and good at tackling, I can move the ball, I have speed and physique.”
Thiaw played in the youth teams of Borussia Mönchengladbach and Schalke 04 and was a midfielder as a child, one who watched the legends of Kakà and Ronaldinho and enjoyed imitating them. He was born in Dusseldorf in 2001 and is now the captain of Germany U21 despite his mother being born in Helsinki (Finland) and his father – a former goalkeeper – in Dakar (Senegal).
After Lehmann, Bierhoff, Zeige and Schnellinger, he is the fifth German to ever wear the Milan shirt. He has made 7 appearances so far, starting from the first minute on four occasions, and has been helped by the recent switch to a three-man defence.
In Germany some have compared him to Sergio Ramos, even if the most immediate comparison remains with Joel Matip who move in 2016 to Liverpool after years at Schalke 04, Thiaw’s former team.
Part of the credit goes to Norbert Elgert, a 66-year-old who works in the academy at Schalke which has produced gems from Neuer to Draxler, Ozil to Sané, Kehrer to McKennie and more. The latest is Thiaw, who played for 51 games in the youth team as a midfielder and was persuaded to change roles to centre-back by Elgert.
The rest, as they say, is history and now the 21-year-old finds himself not only present on the biggest stage but also stealing the spotlight.
Schnellinger was the first Milan Volkswagen now we can have a second one in Thiaw.
My question is Pioli sees this boy every day at training and he only decided to use him 90 first time last weekend with Torino. wy ?
All minutes played this season he looks the best central defender, Oli Fisher make a statistic for it..
Totally agree. Kalulu mentioned in an interview that he sees Thiaw in training and he’s not surprised because he knows Thiaw is that good from seeing him play in training. But yet Pioli used Gabbia more than Thiaw this season.
If Pioli had subbed in Thiaw against Roma instead of Gabbia we would have won that game. SMH
He needs to improve more and be consistent.pioli must put some trust in the likes of adli and vranckx and cdk.#FORZA MILAN 🙏👌
I think SM might be getting a bit carried away here – I hope he does have a bright future, but it’s been a couple of games – as we’re finding out this season, consistency is the key
Journalist, you forgot alexander merkel. He was germany and kazakh ancestry. Now he play for Kazakh national team.