Emil Forsberg has often emphasized that Leipzig has become an idyll for him, but rarely as clearly as in the past few days. And what can also be said: that this affection has long been mutual. At the beginning of the year, the list of names that were given to all newborns in Leipzig in 2021 became known. And behold, at the very top stands: Emil.
The assumption that this is related to Forsberg, the RB Leipzig playmaker, is obvious. Because the name researcher Knud Bielefeld found for 2021 that “Emil” had only just made it into the top 10 nationwide. What is guaranteed is that Forsberg flatters the popularity of his name. It can be assumed that she will hardly lose weight – not this year.
RB Leipzig can feel close to two titles at the moment, and that also has to do with Emil Forsberg. Last week, Sweden’s Footballer of the Year 2021 scored the 2-1 winning goal against Union Berlin in injury time of the DFB Cup semi-final. Leipzig will therefore play the final for the gold pot in Berlin (May 21) with SC Freiburg. On Thursday, RB will also host Glasgow Rangers for the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals, and even if the Scots threw Borussia Dortmund out of the competition: Leipzig’s chances of making the final trip to Seville (May 18) could be worse.
“We have plans. We want to win something big here,” Forsberg said these days – referring to “we” specifically to the other longest-serving members of the Leipzig squad. On players like Peter Gulacsi, Yussuf Poulsen or Willi Orban, with whom Forsberg forms the Senate at RB after many years together. But above all, the 30-year-old meant: himself. Because a title with Leipzig, no matter which one, would also be the first title that would adorn a special family saga.
Forsberg has often come off the bench this season – in ten out of 18 appearances in the Bundesliga
Forsberg is the direct descendant of a footballer family, he is the youngest of the “Foppas”. In his native Sweden, Emil is called “Mini-Foppa” because he is the son of “Lill-Foppa” and the grandson of the real “Foppa”. The nickname “Foppa” is a meaningless corruption of the surname Forsberg. The original “Foppa”, Emil’s grandfather Lennart, made his debut for GIF Sundsvall in 1945, aged 17. “Lill-Foppa” did the same for him in 1980, he also made his debut at Sundsvall at the age of 17. And then Emil “Mini-Foppa” Forsberg did the same – in 2009.
“Of course I gave him the same advice that my father gave me. It was: Have fun!” says Leif Forsberg, 58, on the phone; “I think you can see in his game that he takes that to heart.”
There was only one phase in Emil Forsberg’s life as a footballer when one could have gotten the impression that he wasn’t having fun, reports the father. When Emil was ten or eleven years old and still too weak to keep up, it happened that he wasn’t considered for important games. He pouted – just like last year when the offensive player sat in the stands in the Berlin Olympic Stadium with a kilometer-long face: Leipzig’s then coach Julian Nagelsmann (today FC Bayern) did not have Forsberg in the cup final against Dortmund (1: 4). appointed starting XI. That hit him hard.
Like Peter Gulacsi, Yussuf Poulsen and Willi Orban (right, photo from 2019), Emil Forsberg is one of Leipzig’s longest-serving employees. The Swede has been playing for RB since January 2015.
(Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa)
“I love the big games,” said Forsberg after the cup semi-final against Union. If you wanted, you could see that as an application for the upcoming highlights of the season – for example for the semifinals against Rangers. “We have just big games,” said RB coach Domenico Tedesco on Wednesday with a smile when asked whether the first leg against Glasgow fell into the category of games that inspire Forsberg and thus predestine them for the starting XI. In the current season, Forsberg often came off the bench – in the Bundesliga in ten out of 18 appearances.
Tedesco’s worries before the game against the Scots were about other things. Above all, the conversion of the defense, because Mohamed Simakan and Willi Orban are missing yellow card suspension. And the fact that the hotel in Leipzig, where Tedesco is still staying, has been taken over by Rangers fans: “I was told that 200 fans will come to this hotel. I will then stay in ours for the next two days Academy,” said the coach – and smiled.
“He’s the best of us all,” says father Leif Forsberg
Forsberg has been in Leipzig only slightly longer than the leader Willi Orban – since January 2015. At that time, RB was still playing in the second division, the Swede was heavily courted, RB paid a comparatively high fee to Malmö, allegedly 3.5 million euros. The people of Leipzig saw Forsberg as a representative of a dying species: a “number 10” almost old school, blessed with dynamism, goal urgency, overview. Leif Forsberg says: “Those who saw both my father and me play are certain: Emil is more like his grandfather. I was more of a striker, my father a director. And there is no doubt about it: Emil is the best of us everyone.”
Emil Forsberg’s qualities on the pitch matured when he was a little boy, says father Leif: “Football also needs physique, and he didn’t develop it until he was 15 or 16 years old. But it was for him That’s a blessing. Before that, he had to learn to assert himself through technique and understanding of the game.” In Leif Forsberg’s opinion, however, it was his son’s move to Germany that gave him the decisive boost in maturity. Emil Forsberg’s contract with RB runs until 2025; he has already announced that he will stay. In the summer, there should hardly be any rumors about a Forsberg departure from Leipzig – in contrast to previous years.
The more exciting question anyway is whether the three-year-old daughter Florence will continue the family saga. Not only her great-grandfather, her grandfather and her father were active in professional soccer, but also her mother, Shanga Hussain, who ended her career as a soccer player in Leipzig.
