Although this season's Hornets Dortmund were reversed by Paris in the champions league game, with the lead in the first leg, and eventually missed the quarterfinals, this team still impressed the fans. They finally escaped in the death group, magically entered the knockout rounds, and still ranked second in the Bundesliga, and fought against Bayern, all of which were Good results achieved by Dort. These signs also indicate that the young team seems to have a tendency to reinvent its glory.
If you pick one of the best performers from this season's multi-special team, I believe that many fans will choose Sancho. Of course, in addition to Sancho, there is actually one player who plays very well, and he is Ashraf. The player, who was loaned from Real Madrid, has become the "darling" of Dortmund fans, and Dortmund naturally wants to keep him in the team so that he can continue to lead the team forward. Next, we will analyze in depth how Ashraf conquered Dortmund, a weak champion genius who came out of Real Madrid Castilla.
The Moroccan boy, abandoned by Real Madrid, is now a world-class player in Westphalia
Ashraf Hakimi was born on 4 November 1998 in Madrid, Spain, where he is a Moroccan player. Ashraf's football enlightenment stage is far ahead of many players, after all, he was favored by Real Madrid at the age of 8, and then Ashraf came to the famous Baldebebas training base and began his youth training life at Real Madrid. It is a very fortunate place for Ashraf to be a real Madrid youth player, but he also has to understand that it is difficult to get a chance to play in the star-studded Real Madrid first team. In the 16-17 season, Ashraf was transferred to Castilla, the reserve team of Real Madrid, and many of Real Madrid's stars proved themselves here first, so that they were called up by the first team. Ashraf also received a call from manager Zidane in the 17-18 season after a season of grinding in Castile.
However, since Real Madrid's main right-back at that time, Carvajal, was at his peak and the main position could not be shaken, So Ashraf only got 13 starts. Of course, in addition to Carvajal, Real Madrid's right-back position, as well as players like Nacho, can also play. As a result, Ashraf's appearance was very low, and he had to be forced to leave the team on loan to train, and eventually came to Dortmund. As a result, in this Bundesliga team, Ashraf quickly sat in the main force and won a lot. Last season, Ashraf played 28 games for Dortmund, scoring three goals and seven assists. So far this season, Ashraf has scored seven goals and 10 assists in 37 appearances (second only to Arnold in the right-backs of the five major leagues), averaging 7.37 points per game, the highest among players in the Bundesliga. It is clear that the underdog champion genius Ashraf, who was abandoned by Real Madrid, has now become a world-class player in Westphalia, so how did the 21-year-old conquer Dortmund?
With rocket-like speed, Ashraf broke the Bundesliga record
Presumably, when everyone watched Dort's game, they were deeply impressed by Ashraf's speed, after all, Ashraf on the court was like a rocket, able to shake off the opponent in one-on-one. According to statistics, in this season's Bundesliga competition, in the 3-3 draw between Dort and Leipzig, Ashraf ran a speed of 36.2km/h in a sprint. After running at this speed, Ashraf broke the sprint record for this season's Bundesliga competition, and also broke the historical record of the Bundesliga. As we all know, players on the wing have high requirements for speed, and Ashraf has such an ability, he seems to have been born for the wing.
After having extraordinary speed, Ashraf was often able to use his speed to surprise opponents in the game, on the flanks, and thus became the fourth most outstanding player in the Bundesliga this season, averaging 2.4 passes per game, making him the largest number of players in the Bundesliga. Of course, Ashraf's speed advantage doesn't just help him overtake on the flanks. After all, when defending, Ashraf can also use the speed advantage to make up for it when he is behind, which is a basic operation he often completes in the game.
The ability to reverse the foot is also good, and Ashraf eats both sides of the road
Today's Ashraf is not only in the right-back position, because he also often makes cameo appearances as a right-back, or even a right winger, and in general, Ashraf has his own place on the entire right side. It is no longer unusual for Ashraf to be able to go up and down on the right side, and what surprises Dort fans the most is that Ashraf can also attack and retreat on the left side. Relying on his good ability to reverse his feet, Ashraf often completes the bottom on the left side of the road and then sends out accurate crosses to find teammates in the box who are ready to cover up. In addition, Ashraf will often make an incision breakthrough on the left side of the road, and then push further forward.
It is reported that in this season's competition, in all the positions that Ashraf has tried, his average rating per game has exceeded 7, and the position with the highest average rating per game is the left winger, reaching 7.81, which is also quite surprising to the author. Overall, today's Ashraf is not only perfectly qualified for every position on the right side, but even on the left side, which he does not play often, Ashraf has a good performance. Therefore, he is the two sides of the road to eat, is the real "king of the side road".
Ashraf's talent on the offensive end is beyond ordinary people, and the defensive end is also remarkable
Ashraf's stats of seven goals and 10 assists show that he is a full-back player with good passing. Compared to right-back Arnold, who is also known for his attacking prowess, Ashraf's crosses were less accurate than Liverpool's flying wings (Ashraf's cross success rate was 17% vs. Alexander-Arnold's 22%). But Ashraf is better at shooting, whether it is a long-range heavy artillery, a calm push after the insertion, or relying on personal ability to break through, and finally form a shot, which Ashraf is better at, and his scoring means are obviously more abundant than Arnold. Judging by Ashraf's performance on the offensive end, it is not too much to even consider him the most talented right-back player in attack.
Compared with Ashraf's offensive skills, his defensive ability is not so top-notch, but this is also compared to his own attack, after all, Ashraf's contribution in defense is also the top level in the Bundesliga. According to statistics, in this season's Bundesliga matches, Ashraf was able to regain 6.1 balls per game, ranking second among the same players in the Bundesliga, and only received 3 yellow cards. In last season's Bundesliga matches, Ashraf averaged 6.5 possessions per game, ranking first among players in the same position in the Bundesliga, and only received 5 yellow cards. As a result, Ashraf often completes clean defenses in the game, and in this regard, it is presumable that Ashraf's terrifying physical fitness has helped him. So when people think there are huge shortcomings in his defense, it's a wrong view. Perhaps because Ashraf's attack is so good, people have some impressions that his defensive skills are not good, but this is not the case. In fact, Ashraf can also be an excellent iron brake on the defensive end.
Ashraf fits Dort perfectly, and he is the bundesliga Hornets' counter-attacking blade
In this season's matches, Dort's usual formation is 4231 or 3421, and when defending, Ashraf has to be fixed in the position of right-back, he has to play one-on-one confrontation with opposing wingers, and will also regularly receive the middle of the road to help the center-back players defend. After all, in today's Dortmund squad, strictly speaking, there is only hummels, a top center-back, so Ashraf must always pay attention to the defense of the middle to defuse the opponent's attack.
Of course, the most compatible place between Ashraf and Dort is still reflected in the offensive end, especially Ashraf's main right wing-back position, when participating in the team's counterattack, he is a fuse that promotes Dort's explosive counterattack. As we all know, Dort is a team that likes to "run wildly", they are good at pressing the whole line after successful defense, simple and rough attack on the opponent's goal. In this process, Ashraf will play the role of counter-attacking pusher, or after inserting into the box, receive a direct pass from his teammate and send a cross again, which is Ashraf's favorite way of playing.
There is no doubt that in the Bundesliga Hornet Dort's tidal counter-attack, Ashraf is like the team's counter-attack blade. It can be said that Dort's aggressive play has completed Ashraf, and Ashraf's speed advantage has also made Dort's counterattack sharper, and the two are mutually complete and very compatible.
Write at the end
In my opinion, Ashraf's playing style is very compatible with Dort's historical offensive strategy, and the combination of the two is too good. Or many specials are the most suitable teams for Ashraf to play, and Ashraf can also be said to be the type of player that Dort needs the most. So that's the key to Ashraf's conquest of Dort.
Of course, Ashraf will not necessarily play for Dortmund for a long time, after all, his contract with Real Madrid will expire next summer, and now it is only on loan to Dort (the loan contract expires this summer), so Real Madrid is now the owner of Ashraf. This also made Ashraf an inflection point in his career, one of the options is to transfer to Dortmund and continue to stay in the team that suits him best, and the other option is to return to Real Madrid to accept the challenge, which requires Ashraf to make a choice as soon as possible, which will also directly determine the direction of Ashraf's career, and I hope that Ashraf can make the best choice.