Nuri Şahin: 5 things on the former Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Liverpool midfielder-turned-coach
Nuri Şahin wowed the crowds at Borussia Dortmund with his stylish midfield play. Now the academy graduate and former Turkey playmaker is hoping to use his experience to drive further success from the dugout. bundesliga.com presents five things you should know about the BVB legend, who's taken on the head coach's job from Edin Terzić...
>>> Nuri Şahin succeeds Edin Terzić as Dortmund head coach!
1) He met some heroes before becoming one
Şahin lived out the wildest dreams of most children who love football. He joined his local club, played for the first team, and even won the league with them. After achieving all of that at a very young age, he then moved to another team he had dreamed about.
The details make it seem even more like a fairytale. The gifted midfielder was born to Turkish parents in Lüdenscheid, some 40 kilometres outside of Dortmund. He first linked up with BVB as a 12-year-old in 2001, by which stage he had already been inspired by two famous Real Madrid players in particular: Fernando Redondo and Zinedine Zidane.
In February 2003 – at the age of 14 – a wide-eyed Şahin got to see one of those stars in the flesh. Serving as a ball boy for a Champions League group-stage fixture, he was captured on camera celebrating Jan Koller’s opener for Dortmund – and would have had a good view of Zidane setting up the equaliser as well.
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