What is it like to have a goalkeeper who can make a difference in every game on goal? With 2018-19, 2019-20 and this season all being the most efficient in the Champions League saves, Onana has always been able to surprise when it matters.
However, the "black Neuer" cultivated by Barca's youth academy, because of his overly aggressive personality and frequent habit of coming to the midfield to get the ball, not only offended the national team manager, but even had trash talk with Inter teammates, making the fans who supported him cry and laugh.
01. He loves Barca deeply: misuse of banned drugs + conflict with the team after coming to Inter
a. Debut at La Masia Academy: Soaring at Ajax
In 2009, the then 13-year-old Onana was favored by the La Masia Academy thanks to the help of the Eto'o Foundation, and has been associated with Barça ever since.
Over the next five years, he competed with also Cameroonian Ondoa (four months older than Onana), not only for the Barça youth team, but also for the Cameroon national team (Ondoa became an international earlier).
After being offered a chance in Barca's B team, the 18-year-old chose to leave Ajax, who offered 140,000 euros to get the promising youngster.
Growing up around the Dutch international West Lesen, their favorite topic of conversation was Barça. Three years later, when Silaisen made his debut at Camp Nou, Onana became Ajax's number one goalkeeper.
I have to admire Ajax's scouting vision, he has 21 clean sheets in his first Eredivisie season, from reaching the final of the Europa League to reaching the last four in the Champions League, Onana's name has become the foundation of Ajax's defense.
At the time, in addition to keeping an eye on his old club Barca, Bayern also saw Onana, whose style resembles Neuer, as a key target.
b. Misuse of banned drugs + conflict with the team: in the end he chose to join Inter
Ajax's contract expires in the summer of 2021 and Onana has refused to renew his contract as he wants to return to Barca.
Facing the interview camera, he did not hide his determination in the slightest: "I have a good relationship with Barça president Bartomeu (who was not yet out of class) and the team's coaching staff, and Barça is my home. ”
However, since Bartomeu left class and the new president Laporta took office, news about Onana's return disappeared.
What's more, because he refused to renew his contract, his relationship with Ajax broke down. Later, he misused banned drugs and kept him away from the court for most of the year (because of a headache, he took the wrong wife's pills).
In the end, Inter, who were more sincere, became Onana's new owner (visa-free to join). This decision was also later praised by many Nerazzurri celebrities and fans.
02. Door line god type! Three years in the Champions League to save several top-ranked goalkeepers
a. The door line reacts too quickly: continuous saves are extinct
As you can see from the statistics, Onana is the first among all goalkeepers participating so far this season, with 33 saves.
Cesar, who helped Inter win the treble, praised his junior after this game: "Onana's two consecutive saves saved our team, these are two great saves!" Congratulations to Inter for signing him and we'll get used to his good performances. ”
From the instantaneous freeze frame, it can be seen that after Skriniar blocked the first shot, the opponent was given a chance to make up the shot.
Onana was already on the ground quickly on the first shot, who would have thought that he could use his waist and abdomen explosive power to complete an instant get up and save.
Even more rare was the frontal position in front of goal, where Taremi completed his third make-up shot, only to be an incredible save by Onana once again.
In this 2 consecutive rescue in front of the goal, Onana showed amazing physical flexibility and goal-line reflexes.
As you can see from the statistics, Taremi scored 0.67 this time, enough to tie the penalty (saving is more difficult than a penalty, because the goal will need to react continuously).
It's no accident that Onana was praised, because he did something amazing.
Looking at the defense this time, under Inter's 352 formation, the team's three central defenders are the main pressure surface when defending.
The team's midfield is mediocre, so Porto has been given plenty of opportunities to penetrate the box and shoot back-to-back.
Tarimi's heel was very beautiful, and his teammate's follow-up blast was saved by Onana. As a result, in front of the small penalty area line, he was once again completed by Porto's Uribe.
Fortunately, this time the shot was deflected, but it can be noticed that Onana got up really fast. If the opponent is right, perhaps Onana will also have a chance to reproduce the masterpiece.
b. Likes to hit the ball when saving
Not only is it the first to save this season, Onana was also the first goalkeeper to stop a goal in the Champions League in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and the expected value of goals conceded for two consecutive seasons - the actual goal conceded value reached 10.9, which is a very staggering figure.
Onana's vast majority of saves are made after fully stretching his body, he does not like to hold the ball, often choosing boxing or slapping.
This habit of movement allows Onana to often complete some incredible goal-line moves, but it also brings a problem: it gives the opponent the opportunity to shoot (he doesn't like to hold the ball, and he does the same when facing crosses).
As a teammate, you must be careful to be prepared to solve the siege. This time Porto's counter-attack was not of very high quality, and Onana was still a flapping save, but fortunately his teammates cleared the ball.
03. There are live goalkeepers at their feet: Fierce even teammates and coaches scold
a. Large range of motion: Exiting the restricted area is his daily operation
As a goalkeeper, Onana likes to imitate Neuer in many places, and even surpasses the German goalkeeper in terms of attacking range.
In his early years, he even liked to play with the ball and play with the forward, and developed the ability to pass and control the ball with both feet.
Onana dribbled the ball out of the box during the game and then used a precise long pass to find a teammate in front, which was a daily operation.
Unfortunately, this pass with a good landing point, Barrera's final stoppage was not of high quality.
Onana was even a bit itchy in the game, trying to compare skills with rival strikers. He often likes to tease the opposing team's upper grab, and this time the long pass has been considered to be very decisive in handling the ball.
The landing point was good, but it was a pity that Dzeko did not hold it. Onana's passing is good from strength to landing, and there's no doubt that he has life at his feet.
b. Be ruthless and dare to scold your teammates and scold the coach
As can be seen from Onana's passing point map in this Champions League knockout match, he completed a total of 14 passes outside the local penalty area, and even ran out of his own defensive third zone at one point.
During the match, Onana even clashed with his own striker Dzeko that Çalhanoğlu had to cover his mouth to prevent the goalkeeper from cursing his teammates.
The reason was that Inter centre-back Bastoni was dragged with the ball and was broken (the referee made up for the opponent's foul), and Onana had a great deal of dissatisfaction with the referee after the dead ball. Dzeko warned him three times after returning from front: "Shut up and go back to the goal." This made Onana furious and fight with his teammates.
Onana, who was still in disbelief, followed up with a demonstration to Bastoni, dribbling the ball all the way forward, using a high-quality long pass to find a teammate in front and directly pushing the ball near the opponent's penalty area.
For Onana, he often makes people sigh in the game: "I saw a black pioneer killing, and the enemy and friendly troops could not get the slightest bargain." ”
During the World Cup two months ago, Onana had a conflict with Cameroon national team coach Rigobert Song because he was too fond of possessing and passing the ball in the box, and was even expelled from the national team (there is also a theory that he did not cooperate with the team to play match-fixing).
Africa's most valuable goalkeeper subsequently announced his retirement from the national team to take the toughest stance against the team manager.
Seeing him scolding Dzeko angrily this time, I have to say that Onana, who is too personal, will also be a headache.
Conclusion:
Perhaps the player in the goalkeeper position should be full of confidence and domineering at the same time. In many ways, Onana did learn the true story of Neuer.
However, to be convincing, he needs to play more consistently, after all, it is too easy to make mistakes when dealing with high balls, which is also a problem that prevents Onana from taking it to the next level.