Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac has heaped praise on Sehrou Guirassy ahead of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie with Lille at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday night, Afrosport reports.
The Guinea forward has been in superb form for BVB this season with 24 goals in 32 competitive games.
Ten of those goals have come in as many games in the Champions League and Kovac highlighted not only Guirassy’s goalscoring prowess as his strength but his attitude and passion.
“Serhou [Guirassy], he is for us a very important player, and I know him very well.
“When he arrived in the Bundesliga in Cologne, he went then back to France. He did a great development. So, he was a young player and each player needs time to develop. And for us he is very important because not only because he’s scoring goals, his attitude, his desire, his passion gives the team also the opportunity to lean on him.
“You know, he’s trying to give the best in all these phases with the ball and also without the ball. So that means we are very happy to have him here. We know exactly his strengths and for sure, Lille, they know also how important he is for us. And let’s see, hopefully he will do a great job [against Lille].
Speaking about his relationship with Guirassy off the pitch: “I think I can say off the pitch he’s…yeah, quiet, he’s quiet, he doesn’t talk so much. I think he talks more with his family than with us, but on the pitch I think the connection with the offensive players is very good.
“I like to play with him. I know what his strengths are. He’s really good to secure the ball and scoring goals. So, my thing to do is to assist him, or score, or he’s assisting me. So, I like to play with him. From the beginning, when he came, I had a good feeling with him. So yeah, we are happy that we have a striker like this.”
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Guirassy was previously on the books of Lille during the 2015-16 season, appearing nine times and scoring one goal.
He has been involved in 13 goals (10 goals, three assists) in the Champions League this term which is the most by any Dortmund player in a single season.
