Bundesliga
Sargis Adamyan: MD7's Man of the Matchday
From Germany's fourth tier to match-winner at the Allianz Arena in the space of just two years, Sargis Adamyan may be a late bloomer, but his brace against reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich showed that his arrival was well worth the wait.
As far as full Bundesliga debuts go, few can compare with Adamyan's, scoring his first goals in top-flight football either side of Robert Lewandowski's effort to hand Hoffenheim a 2-1 win at Bayern and the club's first ever victory at the Allianz.
So who is the Matchday 7 Man of the Matchday, and how did he become the man that felled Die Bayern? bundesliga.com reveals all…
Sargis Adamyan
Age: 26
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Striker/winger
Country: Armenia (16 caps/1 goal)
Watch: Adamyan's brace against Bayern
Key stats
Born in Armenia's capital Yerevan, five-year-old Adamyan's family emigrated to Germany in 1998, meaning he has never played football in his home country. The 26-year-old made his professional debut with Hansa Rostock in the third division aged 19 back in 2013, making eight appearances before moving to TSG Neustrelitz ahead of the 2013/14 season. Adamyan made his international debut for Armenia the same year on 9 October 2014 and has since gone on to be capped 16 times by his country, scoring his first - and, to date, only - international goal against Liechtenstein in a 2-2 draw in November 2018.
The 6'0" forward would spend the next four years playing in the fourth tier, before 16 goals and five assists for TSV Steinbach prompted Jahn Regensburg to move for the then 24-year-old ahead of the 2017/18 campaign. It took Adamyan up two divisions to Bundesliga 2, where he would notch five goals and provide two assists in his first season, before a stunning second year brought him 15 goals and 11 assists in the league. Hoffenheim then came calling and just three games and 134 minutes into his Bundesliga career, Adamyan was at the double in a historic win for his new club against one of the most successful teams in world football. He also became only the second Armenian after former Borussia Dortmund man Henrikh Mkhitaryan to score in Germany's top-flight.
Plays a bit like: Miroslav Klose
That glorious moment in Munich was rich reward for Adamyan, who has had to both work hard and be extremely patient to reach this point of his career. It is reminiscent of Klose's, a man who arrived late to the professional game himself before going on to become a two-time Bundesliga champion, a FIFA World Cup winner and the most prolific marksman in the World Cup history. In fact, Klose had to wait until he was 20 - a year older than Adamyan - to make his professional debut, and did so in the fourth tier of German football, just like Adamyan.
The Polish-born goal machine would score once in 18 appearances for FC Homburg before Kaiserslautern came calling, but it wouldn't be until 2000/01 that Klose - then 22 - was given a crack at the Bundesliga. He would never look back, scoring 121 times in 307 Bundesliga appearances, many of them in a similar manner to Adamyan's brace against Bayern. Clearly, Adamyan has some way to go to replicate Klose's record, but if he continues to show the same pace, power, eye for goal and ability to play both out wide and through the middle, a very promising top-flight career awaits. And Adamyan is already outdoing the Germany great in one area: scoring against Bayern at the first attempt; Klose took five matches to finally get on the scoresheet against his eventual employers.
Watch: Adamyan: "I can't quite believe it!"
Did you know?
The entirety of his footballing career has been shaped in German football and - like Jadon Sancho - Adamyan grew up as a street footballer, away from the game's professional academy set-ups until he joined Hansa Rostock aged 16. There, he played under Roland Kroos, father to another of Germany's 2014 World Cup winners, Toni.
What they're saying
"I can't quite believe it myself yet. The coach gave me the chance today and it was great to play in this wonderful stadium from the start. I wanted to repay him and I think I managed to do so." - Adamyan after his two-goal heroics against Bayern.
"He's a very exciting player, who will take on his initial role as a squad player for us with real relish. I'm confident that he can be a genuine revelation for us [this] season." - Hoffenheim director of football Alexander Rosen.