"Dreams come true," said a euphoric Alphonso Davies after the UCL final victory in Lisbon before adding: "Two years ago, if you'd told me that , I would have thought you were lying." And he is not wrong, because the Canadian's rise has been truly meteoric. It was only in the winter of the 2018/19 season that Davies moved from the Vancouver Whitecaps to FC Bayern. "Alphonso has become an integral part of the team," said board member for sport Hasan Salihamidžić, "he's gone from 0 to 100."
A country made proud
PM and winger in an exchange on Twitter.
At the beginning of the 2019/20 season, the youngster was still playing for the Bayern reserve team in the third tier, but in October he made his first start for the first team. Within a few weeks he established himself as an undisputed regular and has been one of the star performers of the treble-winning campaign. His success this year was also of great importance for his home country. Davies was the first Canadian ever to celebrate winning the Champions League. No wonder that even Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, honoured this achievement: "You made Canadians out there proud."
No one has ever been that fast
But it was not only the three trophy wins that marked Davies' rise. The 19-year-old, whose contract has been extended until 2025, regularly set records this season and was voted "Bundesliga Rookie of the Season". Particularly striking were his incredibly fast sprints in defensive recovery. On Matchday 32, against Werder Bremen, he even set a new Bundesliga speed record, clocking 36.51 km/h. Unsurprisingly then that Thomas Müller has christened him 'FCB's Roadrunner'.
Famous supporters
Alphonso Davies became a household name in the European football world at the very latest when he dribbled past Barcelona's defence, before squaring the ball for Joshua Kimmich to make it 5-2. With his tweet "Watching you play football gives me a lot of pleasure, son," fellow left-back and Real Madrid legend Marcelo, summed it up in a nutshell. And as if the Champions League win against PSG wasn't enough reason to celebrate, there was a second, very big highlight during the celebrations. Drake, one of the most successful singers in modern time and fellow Canadian, followed Davies on Instagram. Davies reacted to this with the words: "You follow me? Oh my God, I've achieved everything, I'm going to bed."
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