Hoffenheim’s Armenian striker hailed for debut goals against Bayern
Sargis Adamyan
S
argis Adamyan is unlikely
to ever forget his first
start in the Bundesliga,
during which he scored
both goals in his side’s
shock 2-1 win away
at perennial German
champions Bayern Munich.
As recently as 2017 he was scratching
a living playing in the fourth tier for TSV
Steinbach. Now the 26-year-old is the
name on everyone’s lips after the late-
bloomer sent Bayern spinning to their
first league defeat of the season.
Hoffenheim’s shock victory allowed
Borussia Monchengladbach and
Wolfsburg – who were the only
Bundesliga side to remain unbeaten
after seven games – to leapfrog Bayern
at the top of the table ahead of the
international break.
A bargain €1.5million signing from
second-tier Jahn Regensburg this
summer, he would probably not even
have been on the Allianz Arena pitch
if first-choice front-men Andrej Kramaric
and Ishak Belfodil had not been sidelined
with a knee injury and tonsillitisrespectively. But how emphatically the
Armenian international seized his chance.
“You could say this is the biggest
moment of my career,” he said in an
emotional post-match interview, almost
speechless with delight. “To play in such
a stadium is an amazing dream for me.”
On the evidence of his five-star
performance against Bayern, his days
as a relative football nobody are well
and truly over.
Combining pace, power and intensity,
he is sharp and elusive in his off-the-
ball-movement and can shoot powerfully
with either foot. Apart from an early
chance which he spurned, he showed
no sign at all of big-match nerves and
also put in a full gegenpressing shift.
The son of a shoemaker, he was born
in the Armenian capital Yerevan but
brought up in the north-eastern German
state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
and clearly revels in high-profile away
fixtures. Last term, while leading theHeadliners
Dream debut...celebrating his opening goal in Munich (above) and beating Bayern defender Jerome Boateng (below)“He gives his absolute
all in every training
session and match”
Hoffenheim team-mate
Benjamin Hubner