HENRIKH MKHITARYAN’S TWO GOALS SYMBOLIZE HIS PLAYING STYLE
Football.co.uk
Sept 4 2013
Author: Armen Bedakian
Henrikh Mkhitaryan made headlines last week for his two-goal
performance for Borussia Dortmund, in the club’s 2-1 win over Eintracht
Frankfurt. Heno, who scored his first Bundesliga goal that day,
managed to pick up a brace, and while the two goals gave his side
the win, they also symbolized perfectly the kind of player that he is.
These two goals are the kind of goals that fans of Shakhtar Donetsk
and the Armenian national team have seen countless times before.
For Dortmund fans, these two goals, scored against Eintracht Frankfurt,
is but a sneak preview of what is to come. Mkhitaryan’s two goals were
very different, and yet, both encapsulate the kind of player that he
is. His is a talent that can be, at once, flashy and exciting or quite,
subdued but deadly. He is not like Mario Götze, in this regard, in
that players who mark Mkhitaryan have trouble committing to him with
his slow, tempered approach forward, and yet, if you give Mkhitaryan
an inch of space, it’s enough for the Armenian international to slot
home a goal.
The first goal, set up perfectly by Jakub BÅ~Baszczykowski after
intercepting the ball in midfield, was slotted away by Heno with a
finesse touch of the left shoe. It slipped past the keeper and opened
the Armenian international’s goalscoring account with Dortmund, in
as simple a way as possible. This is Mkhitaryan’s silent side. It is
his ability to remain cool under pressure and slip by defenders that
makes him such an attacking talent.
The first goal of the game was not just Mkhitaryan’s first in a
Dortmund shirt, but his first of many more, should his performances
for the national team and for Shakhtar Donetsk be any indication. His
time in Donetsk was riddled with these kinds of goals. It was a
well-established routine for Willian to find Mkhitaryan making a
slow, deceptive run passed enemy defenders before dragging his leg
and scoring a one-touch goal. Nothing fancy, nothing exceptionally
pleasing to the eye, but oh so very efficient. For a side built on
this very characteristic, Mkhitaryan’s efficiency gives Jurgen Klopp a
ready-made replacement for his departed German midfielder, Götze. His
goalscoring celebration, too, is a testament of this style of scoring.
Never more than a simple jog, arms perched at his sides, a slight smile
painted on his face. It’s as though Mkhitaryan knows that the goal was
simple enough, not warranting a backflip or anything too gaudy. A high
five with teammates and a goal on the scoreboard is more satisfying,
anyway. Yet, beneath the surface of this silent maestro, there is
another layer of goalscoring threat, one that manifests itself in
the beauty of a long-range strike. The second goal Mkhitaryan scored
against Frankfurt came from a solo run, when he cut in from the
right and shot with intent outside the box. This is another one of
Mkhitaryan’s specialties. He has scored from well outside the box
on numerous occasions and while this has earned him a reputation
in Ukraine, it’s a fact thatBundesliga sides have to learn quickly
and adjust accordingly to. Mkhitaryan is capable of picking out the
perfect moment to shoot and while his footwork and movement make him
a dangerous player in midfield, he does not have that aura of danger
that other players like Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery have – not yet,
anyway. It’s a reputation that has been earned by the latter two and
while Mkhitaryan is a new face in the Bundesliga, he will soon earn
a name for himself as a dangerous long-shot specialist. He is also
a very strong free kick taker, and has scored plenty of goals from
well outside the box off a dead ball.
These are Mkhitaryan’s two goalscoring styles – shots from outside
the box and tap-in goals from runs behind a defender. You will rarely
see Mkhitaryan score off a header, or sway his way through a wall of
defenders a la Lionel Messi. Instead, Mkhitaryan’s talent in front of
net is encompassed by these two styles of scoring. He’s a one-touch
player in the box and a menace outside of it. He lacks the conviction
of Robben or Cristiano Ronaldo but he makes up for it with his ability
to find space and slot goals home.
He is consistently efficient and disciplined to the point of deception
and flashy when needed – a perfect fit for Borussia Dortmund, who
are much the same, slipping their way behind the likes of Real Madrid
and making it to the Champions League final last season, winning the
Bundesliga in recent years passed. A one-touch goal and a long-range
drive, the yin and yang of Mkhitaryan’s style, set on display for
the Dortmund faithful to enjoy. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has arrived at
Borussia Dortmund – Bundesliga defenders, keep an eye out.
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