Freiburg praise progress of Noah Atubolu after goalkeeper sets new club record | OneFootball

Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu – after setting a club record yesterday – spoke to Sky Germany about what it felt like to be one of the Bundesliga’s most celebrated stoppers. With his sixth consecutive clean sheet, the Freiburg-native reflected on his own personal journey. Matters have been anything but easy for the 22-year-old. Thrust into the No. 1 SCF keeper role at a young age last season, he made many mistakes and incurred a lot of criticism.

“The beginning wasn’t easy and I had to take a lot of heat,” Atubolu told Sky in his post match interview. “I had my wobbles at first, but I think that’s part of the process. I’m very, very grateful to Freiburg retaining trust in me.”

Having traversed the hard times, not to mention plenty of hurtful criticism from the club supporters, Atubolu finds himself on a statistical cloud nine. He’s not only gone without conceding in nearly 600 minutes of Bundesliga football, but has also saved four penalties over the course of the last 12 months. A total of 10 clean sheets this year, just 29 league goals conceded, and a 72.1 percent save rate speaks volumes.

At this rate, it likely shouldn’t be long before Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann gives Atubolu his first senior German men’s national team call up. Even if there is something of a logjam at the keeper position, the case has been stated. Atubolu – when healthy – has served as the regular #1 on Antonio di Salvo’s Germany U21s for well over 18 months.

In his own post match interview, Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo openly endorsed Atubolu for the German national team. The keeper himself kept modest about both the prospect and the manner in which he handled facing and beating the club record on Saturday night.

“My ‘little brother’ absolutely deserves it,” Grifo said. “If he carries on like this, remains hungry, and keeps working as he is now, I’m pretty sure he’ll get his chance.

“To say I wasn’t nervous about the record would be a lie,” Atubolu added. “And it would also be a lie to say that if I said that it wasn’t my goal to play for the German national team someday. Of course, that’s my goal.“

GGFN | Peter Weis