If Ellyes Skhiri hadn’t filled the jersey with the number 28 for the first football club in Cologne for two years, the slender, graceful figure of the Tunisian could also be seen in sports pants that barely cover the upper thigh and a light undershirt with the inscription Tunisia to introduce. In such outfits, the long-distance runners from East and North Africa regularly cause a sensation at the Olympics and the largest marathons on the planet. The comparison doesn’t just look good, after all, it is the sheer inexhaustible mileage that distinguishes Ellyes Skhiri. Mile after mile, the Tunisian ran quietly and unobtrusively into the hearts of fans and fellow players this season.
Skhiri – the Cologne Haile Gebreselassie, the Kenenisa Bekele of the Bundesliga – was one of the few constants in the chaotic effzeh cosmos in a season that was like no other due to the omnipresent corona pandemic. Like Forrest Gump once ran and ran and ran, the Tunisian tirelessly. Or in the words of Oliver Kahn: On, on and on! In doing so, he formed the engine of a Cologne team that has finally shelved its weakness this season. At the end of the season, Skhiri was unsurprisingly the best-running player in the Bundesliga. The Tunisian covered almost 400 kilometers, his mileage of 396.23 kilometers surpassed the runner-up Maximilian Eggestein by another 8,000 meters. The 26-year-old ran almost 13 kilometers per game in a total of 32 appearances in the upper house – these are extremely strong values.
Skhiri: Roadrunner meets Forrest Gump
The immense mileage of the roadrunners was mostly not so obvious. Compared to the wild pressing actions of Jonas Hector, who stood out in the season finale with his elaborate, willful running style on the field, Skhiri’s runs were far less noticeable, for example. Rather, the defensive midfielder tirelessly plugged holes before they even appeared. A little like Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante. So he was not a dazzling star, but a maker who could be found wherever there was a fire – in the style of Kante and Gump. Just like the film character, Skhiri is not a loudspeaker that spits big tones, interviews with the Tunisian were and are a rarity. One of the few statements he made in an interview with the Geissblog reveals it speaks volumes. So he admitted that he was still riding the spinning bike even at half-time because his body didn’t like to stop and take a break.
Running strength alone did not make Skhiri one of the most important pillars in the systems of Gisdol and Funkel this season. Defensive midfielders are not targeted by top clubs (which are said to be interested in the Tunisian by now) just because they run a lot. During this season, Skhiri also discovered the move forward for himself and was a strategist as well as a runner. In the 2019/20 season, the celebrated winning goal against SC Freiburg after an endlessly long solo run was the only memorable offensive action of the midfielder, but this season he switched to the front more and more often and was particularly dangerous with standards. He quintupled his scoring from the previous year (one goal) in the past season.
Skhiri scores – Reus and Hummels have no chance | Image: Imago
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His double against Borussia Dortmund in the first half of the season, when Skhiri created an absolute rarity and almost exactly copied his first goal of the game, was remembered. Twice a corner from Duda sailed against BVB on the short post to Marius Wolf, who extended the ball to the long post, where the Tunisian was spot on and pushed in from close range. With that, Skhiri played a key role in the surprising 2-1 success – one of the very few highlights of a poor series. Even in what was probably the best effzeh performance of the season, the sovereign 3-1 win against rival Arminia Bielefeld in the second half of the season, Skhiri was the focus when preparing the goals for Marius Wolf and Elvis Rexhbecaj.
Skhiri with the golden goal against Holstein Kiel
It was only logical that Ellyes Skhiri of all people made the final decision in the second relegation game at Holstein Kiel with his goal to make it 5-1 and put the lid on a more than changeable season of the billy goats. Hardly any other player would have earned more than the tirelessly plowing Tunisian. Perhaps the 26-year-old will be able to continue his positive development in the cathedral city next year, even if he is unlikely to increase his goal scoring fivefold.
ELLYES SKHIRI RUNNING AWAY WITH MY HEART
– 1. FC Cologne (@fckoeln_en) May 29, 2021
Perhaps the marathon runner on the soccer field will also bring the much-needed cash blessing for the clammy effzeh. There are already rumors about a transfer. Should he actually change, the Tunisian will always be remembered and not as another mercenary who viewed the glorious first football club in Cologne as another stop for a quick buck, but as a player who kept his heart and rather his lungs on Feld, as a silent leader, as a never-stopping dynamo, as the bright spot of a season that has been screwed up in many ways.
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