Filippo Inzaghi was a striker that you loved with all your heart if you were a supporter of his team (especially Juventus, AC Milan). Most of the others hated him. Namely because he provoked, often let himself go and otherwise hardly took part in the game. In addition, he constantly lurked on the offside edge and reflexively brought some part of his body to the ball in the six-meter area and thus pushed it over the goal line. It was exactly this characteristic of the former goalscorer that aroused associations with an unnamed teammate of Thilo Kehrer on Tuesday evening: “I was told that it looks like Pippo Inzaghi. But I don’t think I’m that far yet,” said the AS Monaco central defender after his team’s 1-0 win at FC Bologna.
Kehrer was referring to his winning goal for coach Adi Hütter’s team in the 86th minute. A corner was extended with a header by former Gladbacher Breel Embolo; Kehrer, like a goalscorer, simply held out his big toe and maneuvered the ball into the goal. “I was pretty well positioned in this campaign and was successful, so I’m very happy,” said Kehrer and disappeared into the dressing room with the Man of the Match trophy.
The 28-year-old native of Tübingen has taken a huge step forward in the principality. He is the extended arm of Coach Hütter, holds the defense together as boss and is currently replacing the injured Denis Zakaria as captain. The goal is clearly stated: Kehrer wants to return to the German national team, for which he has appeared 27 times so far, most recently in June 2023. The Champions League is the ideal stage to show off to national coach Julian Nagelsmann: after four games, the Monegasques have ten Points in the account, which means that at least qualification for the playoffs has taken shape. After there had recently been two defeats in Ligue 1 against Nice (1:2) and newly promoted Angers (0:1), they “didn’t want to disappoint” coach Hütter, said Kehrer. This was achieved not least thanks to his brief transformation into Super Pippo.
