KOLN MAY BE having a disappointing season in the Bundesliga, but no one can say they are not giving youth a chance.
Despite having beaten Arsenal in the Europa League in midweek, the German outfit are yet to record a league win from 13 games in 2017-18.
In a bid to arrest that run of results, manager Peter Stoger chose to hand a debut to teenager Yann Aurel Bisseck for Sunday’s clash with Hertha Berlin.
Defender/defensive midfielder Bisseck — who recently represented Germany at the U17 World Cup — does not turn 17 until Wednesday, meaning he became the youngest German player to ever play a top-flight match.
And he narrowly missed out on becoming the youngest Bundesliga player full stop, with only Borussia Dortmund’s Nuri Sahin having made his bow at a younger age.
Bisseck, who played in the right-hand side of a back three, could not help inspire Koln to victory as they were beaten 2-0 by Hertha Berlin, but the strugglers will at least be hoping he can lead them towards a brighter future.
According to the official Bundesliga website, Bisseck “did not look out of place among the senior pros — playing the full 90 minutes and winning an impressive 70% of all his one-on-one duels”.
The starlet is less than half the age of 39-year-old team-mate Claudio Pizarro, who also played the full 90 minutes against Hertha, with Koln now having fielded the youngest and oldest player in the league this season.
Pizarro was a regular in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen before Bisseck was even born.
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