“The dream has come true and it is simply the best feeling,” Shafiq Nandja said after scoring his first Bundesliga goal for Hamburger SV in the 2-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Volksparkstadion. The 19-year-old had been through a rougher Sunday the week before, when a mistake against Eintracht Frankfurt helped set up the 3-1 defeat.
Nandja's response after Frankfurt
The contrast was hard to miss in the stadium. One week he was accepting blame for being dispossessed by Can Uzun, the next he was in tears by the corner flag in front of the Nordkurve after steering in his first senior Bundesliga goal.
The speaker's announcement, “From the youth performance centre to the scorers' list,” fitted the moment well. Nandja said he “didn't feel much anymore” when the goal went in, then looked up and let everything out.
He is only 19 and had played just seven Bundesliga matches. That is a quick rise for a teenager still learning his place in the league.
Polzin's faith in a teenager
Merlin Polzin started him again despite the error against Frankfurt, and Nandja said it was “simply important” that he got the coach's trust again. Polzin's view was just as direct, saying the club's boys from the NLZ play “a very, very important role” in how Hamburger SV wants to keep developing.
That trust was visible in the selection itself. Jordan Torunarigha, 29, stayed on the bench, while Nandja was handed another start and responded with a goal, a 6.92 rating and 63 minutes on the pitch.
His background makes the moment feel even less ordinary. He came through Harburger Türk-Sport before joining HSV at the age of eleven, and he only switched from striker to defender in the U15. On Friday night, the former forward's first Bundesliga goal came in a match that also carried the emotional weight of the week before.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
