Guirassy's long road to the top

It has been another fantastic campaign for the Guinea international. He now has 29 goals to his name, with 16 coming in the Bundesliga and 13 in 14 UEFA Champions League matches – a tally which makes him the tournament’s leading goalscorer. His hat-trick against Barcelona in the second leg of BVB’s quarter-final tie was another example of him shining on the biggest stage.

This follows a terrific campaign at VfB Stuttgart, where he managed 28 goals in the league. That was a haul bettered only by the irrepressible Harry Kane, the one player to manage more than Guirassy’s 44 strikes over the past two seasons in the German top flight.

Given the astonishing regularity with which he is currently finding the back of the net, it is hard to imagine that Dortmund’s star striker struggled in front of goal throughout large parts of his career.

After impressing at youth level for local side Amilly, located around two hours south of Paris, Guirassy’s professional journey started at Stade Laval in the French Ligue 2 during the 2013/14 season. By then, he had already had a setback in the form of an unsuccessful trial at top-tier side Auxerre, but that would not be the first time he would have to overcome an obstacle.

Four league outings in that first season yielded zero goals, yet he did show glimpses of his ability for the club’s B side, scoring six in 10 CFA 2 fixtures – the fifth tier of the French footballing pyramid. That earned a full campaign with the team's first string, and seven goals in 34 matches in 2014/15 attracted the attention of Ligue 1 giants Lille.

That move should have been the making of him. The reality, though, was rather different. Guirassy started the opening game of the Ligue 1 season against Paris Saint-Germain, but that was one of just four occasions on which he was named in the first XI, while he managed just one goal – in the Coupe de la Ligue (French League Cup) against Troyes.

Head coach Hervé Renard had initially given him a chance, but ultimately used him sparingly. When Frédéric Antonetti replaced him in November 2015, Guirassy’s Lille career was effectively over before it had begun. He joined Auxerre on loan in the January transfer window and would never return.

“It was a leap into the deep end for me,” Guirassy explained several years later. “It's easier to talk about all that with hindsight. I was still very young, I wasn't ready for the top level and above all, there was no time to waste here. The club were struggling and even the coach hadn't had time to express himself. But these are always experiences that are useful in life and it served as a lesson, especially as it was my first season in Ligue after coming from Ligue 2.”

His time at Lille was certainly not a success, but it did at least allow him to taste a higher quality of football. He impressed at Auxerre – now in the second tier – during the second half of 2015/16, scoring eight goals in 16 games.

Now with experience of one of Europe’s top five leagues and a prolific run of form under his belt, it was time for his next career move: Germany's Cologne. The Billy Goats were looking for a striker to accompany Anthony Modeste, and Guirassy possessed a similar profile to the Frenchman. Yet, while Modeste would go on to become a cult hero at the club, his teammate was never really able to adapt to the new league.

Not that it was down to a lack of ability. Ravaged by injury in 20261/17, Guirassy failed to score in his six Bundesliga appearances. He received increased playing time across the subsequent two campaigns, but managed just nine goals in 45 games as injury issues continued to plague him. In fact, his time at the RheinEnergieSTADION was best remembered for a horrific miss against Werder Bremen in 2017/18, as he somehow fired past the post with the goal from two yards out.

Alexander Wehrle, Cologne’s managing director when Guirassy was signed in 2016, believes it was a case of right place, wrong time. “Serhou's potential was already evident back then,” he said in 2023. “It was no coincidence that he was given a five-year contract. But it's important to remember that he had come to Cologne from abroad as a 20-year-old. His development was far from complete. In addition, he was under contract at Cologne during a difficult sporting period and was unfortunately often sidelined by injuries.”

As such, there was little fanfare when Guirassy completed a move back to France in January 2019. By that point, the forward was almost 23, and while there was obvious potential, time was running out for him to fulfil it. Fortunately, his stint at Amiens proved to be a turning point.

Three goals in 13 games followed in the remainder of the 2018/19 campaign, with nine goals in 24 games coming in 2019/20. That was his then best return in a single season and was for a team that was relegated to Ligue 2 – albeit in a COVID 19-curtailed season - and managed just 31 team goals in 28 outings.

He had proven he could cut it amongst France’s best and therefore convinced UEFA Champions League outfit Stade Rennais to acquire his services for the next season. Another career-best of 13 goals in a single campaign – including two in four European fixtures, with one coming against eventual winners Chelsea – indicated Guirassy was on an upward trajectory.

By the end of 2021/22, Guirassy had netted 25 times in 80 matches for Les Dogues and had just completed a full season without injury. So, when Stuttgart were looking for a Saša Kalajdžić replacement following the Austrian’s switch to Wolverhamption Wanderers of the English Premier League, Guirassy was offered a second chance in the Bundesliga.

It is one he grasped with both hands, and then some. In 2022/23, Guirassy found the back of the net 11 times in 22 games in the regular Bundesliga season. He particularly shone following Sebastian Hoeneß’s appointment as head coach, with his goals helping the Swabians from the bottom of the table to an unlikely relegation play-off. He then scored against Hamburg in the first of the two-legged tie, securing Stuttgart’s top-flight status for at least 12 months.

The rest, as they say, is history. Guirassy never looked back after that strong end to 22/23, dispatching nine goals in the first five games of the next season. As Stuttgart’s star rose, his did the same, and he has continued to go from strength.

Speaking in March 2025, Guirassy discussed his incredible improvement and suggested that a change in mindset is behind it. “I have had two crazy seasons, but I've not changed anything. I'm not working more, I'm not sleeping more, I'm not doing more video analysis. It's just a question of confidence. And I have understood that at the highest level, talent isn't enough. You have to push through the pain barrier in challenges, in the effort you put in, in making high-intensity runs again and again, more quickly and more frequently than your opponents. Perhaps that is where the change has come from."

Whatever he has done, it is working. Dortmund have four big games ahead of them in the race for Champions League football, and given how they key striker has performed this campaign, you wouldn’t bet against him doing what is needed to get the Black-Yellows over the line. That would be just the latest achievement for a player who does not know when he is beaten.