In its long history, the Bundesliga has produced many great French players. Bixente Lizarazu and Willy Sagnol won almost everything there was to win at the beginning of the millennium. Johan Micoud then coined the Werder diamond for a few years. But nobody came up with as many appearances as ex-Bayern star Franck Ribery. Until now.
Together with Franck Ribery, the Frenchman with the most Bundesliga appearances: Jonathan Schmid (here in a duel with Leipzig’s Lukas Klostermann).
imago images
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Since the 2010/11 season, Jonathan Schmid has been playing in the top German league without interruption. In addition to Freiburg, the 30-year-old Alsatian has also played for Hoffenheim and Augsburg and has made 273 appearances since this Saturday – as many as Ribery, who once shaped an entire era at FC Bayern from 2007 to 2019.
During the week, when Freiburg coach Christian Streich was asked about the imminent deployment of his protégé, he turned to Ribery: “Franck should send a nice greeting.”
Said and done. Ribery, no longer the sole record holder, sent a short message to Freiburg on the social networks late on Saturday afternoon. “Hello Mr. Streich and hello Jonathan”, the 37-year-old started, “273 Bundesliga games. It’s amazing. Only the best can do that.” And raised his left thumb respectfully.
Joy here, frustration there
The achieved brand could at least comfort the new co-record holder from the Breisgau a little. He is “personally satisfied” with what has been achieved, said Schmid on “Sky”. He is also very happy about the Ribery message: “To receive such a message from such a player, that makes me very happy. I’ll look at that later and maybe answer.”
But the set record could not make you forget the result. “Bitter”, said Schmid at the 3-0 draw against Leipzig. He commented just as clearly that it became so clear in the end: “That sucks.”
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