As of: November 6th, 2024 10:38 a.m
El Bilal Touré recently scored important goals for VfB Stuttgart. Now he will face his former club Atalanta Bergamo in the Champions League, where he was once left out.
Match days in the Champions League are something special for many footballers. For El Bilal, who only wants to be called by his first name, the game against Atalanta Bergamo on Wednesday (from 9 p.m. in the sportschau.de live center) has a completely different meaning. With VfB Stuttgart he meets his former colleagues. To former teammates who become opponents for 90 minutes.
See you again with your ex
El Bilal won the Europa League with Bergamo in May, but he had sought his personal happiness at Atalanta for a year in vain. Now VfB’s new storm hope meets the club that no longer had any use for its record purchase in the summer.
The quick Reunion on the big stage of the Champions League was of course “something special” for him. He had been waiting for this game and was looking forward to it, said El Bilal, adding: “I hope that I will have a good day.” That will be necessary – after all, it’s against “one of the biggest teams in Europe,” as coach Sebastian Hoeneß ennobled the opponent.
Stuttgart instead of Bergamo: more good days
El Bilal has had a few good days lately. In the game at Juventus Turin (1-0) two weeks ago, for example, when he scored as a joker deep in stoppage time for a well-deserved victory. The next strong performance came just four days later, in the Bundesliga game against Kiel (2-1) he was once again the match winner thanks to a dream assist and a dream goal. “He decided both games for us. We are very happy that he is there,” said left-back Maximilian Mittelstädt about his teammate.
And so El Bilal unexpectedly blossomed from a supplementary player into a candidate for the starting eleven. Against Kiel and also in Leverkusen (0-0) he started in place of Ermedin Demirovic. And the chances are good that this will also be the case against Atalanta.
Two feet, one strength
At VfB, who loaned him out for around two million in the summer, El Bilal has now faced the competition for Deniz Undav and Demirovic in the team. His enormous speed and two-footedness helped him.
“Sometimes you can’t tell whether he’s right-footed or left-footed,” Hoeneß praised his protégé before the second premier class home game. “He’s a very strong striker.”
Atalanta expert for VfB
Can El Bilal help the opponent with his expertise before the Atalanta game? Hoeneß revealed that he got “one or two pieces of advice”.
To Atalanta. Of all people, Atalanta. For El Bilal, the opponent is not just any former club. In northern Italy he had a season to forget. And that despite the fact that Bergamo transferred the record sum of 31 million euros for El Bilal to UD Almeria in the summer of 2023. But then the new number ten was injured for months, and in the end he only made 17 competitive appearances, including three starts, three goals and a meager 478 minutes of action.
On Wednesday evening, El Bilal wants to forget about that and instead submit the next application for a future at VfB. The Stuttgart team would probably have to pay 16 million euros for a commitment in the summer. If El Bilal maintains his form, those responsible could soon start to have second thoughts.
Broadcast on Wed, November 6th, 2024 6:00 a.m., SWR Aktuell in the morning, SWR Aktuell
