Birthday Boys- Marco Reus and Joachim Andersen

In today’s edition of Birthday Boys we explore the careers of Dortmund talisman Marco Reus and Olympique Lyon defender Joachim Andersen.

Marco Reus

The German forward turns 31 today and despite injuries plaguing his career he has become a Dortmund legend.

Reus would join Dortmund’s youth academy in 1995 and would make it up to the Dortmund’s U17’s but decided to move to Rot Weiss Ahlen in January 2015.

As the German made his way through the ranks at Ahlen he made the first team in 2008 and signed his professional contract for the club that summer.

He would appear 28 times that season for the club who were then in 2. Bundesliga and scored four goals and assisted three times in all competitions.

Borussia Monchengladbach bought Reus for £450,000 in the summer of 2009. His first full season in the Bundesliga saw him feature in 35 games in all competitions scoring eight goals and assisting four times.

The next season saw him feature 37 times in all competitions as he enjoyed a good campaign for Gladbach. He scored 12 goals and assisted 10 times in that season.

The 11/12 season saw him feature the same amount of times as the previous season and was his best season in a Gladbach shirt as he scored 21 goals and assist 14 goals.

In the summer of 2012, Reus got his dream move back to Dortmund for £12 million. His first season would be a very good one scoring 19 goals and getting 16 assists in 49 appearances.

44 appearances came in the 13/14 season as he went onto score 23 goals and assist 23 times in a very impressive campaign but, injury worries would hit Reus in the seasons to come.

The 14/15 season saw Reus appear in under 30 first team games for the first time since his Ahlen days. He still managed to score 11 goals and grab six assists.

He would return back to match fitness for the 15/16 season firing on all cylinders. Managed 43 appearances for Dortmund in all competitions that season as he finished the campaign on 23 goals and eight assists.

Injury worries would hamper his 16/17 and 17/18 campaigns only managing 39 appearances in the two seasons combined.

The 18/19 season saw Reus return to match fitness and feature in 36 games for the Yellow and Blacks scoring 21 goals and grabbing 13 assists.

Currently this season has been a mixed bag for Reus as he has been injured for some of the season but, has still managed to feature in 26 games for Dortmund which he scored 12 goals and got seven assists.

He has made 44 international caps for the German national team scoring on 13 ocassions. He was participated in Euro 2012 and the 2018 World Cup for Germany.

He’s won four team trophies with Borussia Dortmund winning the German Supercup three times and the German Cup once. He’s also won a few individual honours winning German Footballer of the Year on two occasions and Player of the Year once for Monchengladbach and twice for Dortmund.

Joachim Andersen

The defender turns 24 today and has been tipped as a quality defender for the future but, how did it all start for Andersen.

The Dane would move from youth team to youth team finally settling in the Netherlands with FC Twente where he would break into the first team in the summer of 2014 at the age of 18.

He would feature eight times for the Dutch club that season scoring one goal in his game time that he got for the first team.

The next season he would gain even more experience and minutes as he played 18 games that campaign and the season after that he would feature 24 times scoring twice and assisting once.

In the summer of 2017, Sampdoria came in for the Danish defender and signed him from Twente for £1.35 million. He would only feature eight times for the first team in that season.

He became a regular for the Italian club the following season making 34 appearances and showing that he was a vital part of Sampdoria’s defence.

In July 2019, Olympique Lyon signed the Dane from the Italian club for over £20 million and he’s had a good first season in France. He played 30 times for Lyon before coronavirus put the end to the Ligue 1 season.

He made his international debut for the Danish senior team in October 2019 and he will make more appearances for the national team for sure as he looks like a solid defender.

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