“My season is now up and running” | OneFootball

Junior Dina Ebimbe on his personal development, talks with Dino Toppmöller, the match against Bayern and “a new version” of himself on the pitch

Junior, in the fourth minute of stoppage time against Bayern Munich, you went into a full-blooded challenge near the halfway line and managed to head the ball into Omar Marmoush’s path. He went on to equalise and secure a 3-3 draw... “We’ve got great forwards up front. At that moment I knew Omar was going to score. We have a lot of faith in the boys. I just do my job. Maybe in that situation you’ve seen a new version of me. I want to focus more on the basics and how I can help the team. I know how much potential I have. I never shy away from a tackle; I have no fear.”

In Eintracht’s opening UEFA Europa League fixture against Plzen, you came off the bench and scored almost straight away to make it 2-1. How did that feel? “It was liberating for me because I hadn’t played much before that this season. It was a personal success and also a signal for me that my season is now up and running.”

How do you assess your start to the season personally? “I feel great now and I hope that continues for a long as possible. It’s never easy for any player when you’re not playing. But every footballer knows that moments like that can arrive. Despite everything, I stayed focused, I spoke with the coach a lot and he told me that my time would come. On the whole, I learned a great deal from what was a difficult time for me.”

A few weeks ago, head coach Dino Toppmöller reported that he had held talks with you. Can you tell us what was discussed? “We spoke about a lot of things, including that I need to perform more consistently. There’s no problem with my motivation. It’s a matter of concentration and maybe sometimes of awareness. We’re professionals and we have to perform when we’re out on the pitch. The coach also told me that I need to improve my body language and not always show my emotions. Sometimes I’m too much of a perfectionist, which is why I worked on the mental side of my game over the summer.”