Borussia Dortmund’s Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy is enjoying a remarkable season as he prepares to face Lille in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg on Tuesday.
Guirassy, who has scored 10 goals in the Champions League and amassed 24 goals with five assists across all competitions this season, is in the best form of his career at 28 years old.
His decision to represent Guinea, the country of his parents, in March 2022 has proven pivotal for the Syli National.
Kaba Diawara, Guinea’s head coach at the time and a key figure in Guirassy’s recruitment to the national team, expressed his pride in the striker’s success.
“I absolutely wanted to have him, and I think that if he was still eligible for France, he would have had his first selection today,” Diawara told Le Parisien.
Diawara believes Guirassy’s current form would have earned him a call-up to the French national team under Didier Deschamps, despite competition from high-profile forwards such as Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Muani, Christopher Nkunku, and Marcus Thuram.
The coach also highlighted Guirassy’s evolution as a player, attributing his rise to greater aggressiveness and a more clinical approach in front of goal.
“At the beginning, he was too altruistic. He would give a thumbs up, never yelled at his teammates for a missed cross. And, little by little, he understood that he had to be tougher.
He put this aggressiveness to the service of his game. He is no longer content to score beautiful goals. He will tackle, slide, go and cut at the near post, which he did not do before.”
Guirassy’s transformation into a prolific striker has made him one of the standout African players in Europe this season, raising expectations for his performances in both the Champions League and for Guinea in the upcoming international fixtures.
