Thomas Meunier

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Thomas Meunier
2019-07-17 SG Dynamo Dresden vs. Paris Saint-Germain by Sandro Halank – 121.jpg
Meunier at PSG (2019)
Personnel
birthday September 12, 1991
place of birth Sainte-Ode ,  Belgium
size 190 cm
position Full defense (right), midfield (right)
Juniors
Years station
1996-2002 RUS Sainte-Ode
2002-2004 RUS Givry
2004-2006 Standard Liege
2006-2009 Royal Excelsior Virton
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2009-2011 Royal Excelsior Virton 49 (15)
2011-2016 Club Bruges 149 (15)
2016-2020 Paris Saint-Germain 84 0(8)
2020– Borussia Dortmund 0 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2006 Belgium U15 1 0(0)
2011–2012 Belgium U21 7 0(1)
2013– Belgium 40 0(7)
1 Only league games are given.
As of July 15, 2020

2 As of October 13, 2019

Thomas Meunier (born September 12, 1991 in Sainte-Ode ) is a Belgian football player . The defender is under contract with Borussia Dortmund and is a senior international .

Career

societies

Belgium

Meunier was born in Sainte-Ode in the province of Luxembourg and grew up as the son of a nurse and a technician in the village of Lavacherie. Since there weren't even any real football pitches there, the young Meunier, who liked to play in attack, had to start playing football at the local club RUS Sainte-Ode before going to the Standard football school via RUS Givry , around ten kilometers from Sainte-Ode Liège changed. The reason for this was his appointment to the regional team, which brought the then 12-year-old into the club's boarding school. Meunier met his future national team colleague Christian Benteke , with whom he became friends. Axel Witsel , who was two years older than him and who would later play in the national team and in Dortmund , also made the leap into the professional field in Liège. The young Meunier, on the other hand, had to struggle with knee and back pain due to a growth spurt of 20 centimeters and suffered from the separation of his parents, but could not assert himself at Standard in two years. He returned to the province of Luxembourg and joined the youth of Royal Excelsior Virton , the largest club in the region. The mother, with whom Meunier lived after the separation, had taken her son's devotion to sport as an opportunity to ask the club for an audition in which he finally scored ten goals. There he played his first games in the second-rate Division 1B from 2009 at the age of 17 . The Belgian also played futsal in the hall to refine his technique, but for financial reasons decided to continue playing professional football.

After relegating Virton to the 3rd division , Meunier, who successfully completed his studies in Bastogne , worked alongside football, first as a postman and later as a warehouse worker for a manufacturer of car windows. The striker scored a few goals for the club, which even spread through social media , drawing the attention of larger clubs in the country, including RSC Anderlecht and KV Kortrijk . In 2011, however, Meunier moved to Club Bruges , who signed him for around 200,000 euros. On July 28, he came in the third qualifying round of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League against third in the Azerbaijani championship FK Qarabağ Ağdam for his first international appearance. He was substituted on five minutes before the end when the score was 4: 1, which then did not change. In the second leg, the Belgians were able to afford a 0-1 defeat to reach the play-offs. Here they prevailed after a 3: 3 against Georgian champions FC Sestaponi with 2: 0 in the second leg. They survived the group stage as group winners ahead of Sporting Braga and Meunier scored their first goal in a 2-2 draw against Birmingham City . In the sixteenth finals, however, Bruges failed at the Bundesliga team Hannover 96 . In total, he made 12 appearances for the club in the Europa League.

Meunier made his Jupiler Pro League debut on July 31, 2011 (1st matchday) in the home game against KVC Westerlo (5-0), when he came on for Nabil Dirar in the 71st minute and ten minutes later the 4th : Scored 0. In total, the defender made 35 appearances in his first season , at the end of which he was runner-up with Bruges and qualified with the team for qualifying for the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League . There Bruges failed against Danish runners-up FC Copenhagen , because after a goalless draw in Denmark they lost the home game 2: 3. They were then able to continue playing in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League play- offs , where they defeated Hungarian representatives Debreceni VSC 3-0 and 4-1 and reached the group stage. Here, Club Bruges came last behind Girondins Bordeaux , Newcastle United and Marítimo Funchal . Meunier came in addition to the two playoff games to only two group games. In the last game against Funchal, the Belgian played as a right-back for the first time, the position he has now occupied most often. Responsible for this was Georges Leekens , the Belgian national coach at the time, who tested his player in this position and confirmed that he had a promising future. In the league it was only enough for third place this time, which however qualified for participation in the third qualifying round for the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League . In this, the team met the Polish third Śląsk Wrocław , against whom it was eliminated after a 0-1 away defeat by a 3: 3 in the second leg. Meunier was not used in either game. The following season Bruges finished third again and was thus allowed to participate in the third qualifying round for the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League . Here the Belgian came in in the first game against Brøndby IF , which was won 3-0. In the 2-0 second leg, he was only on the bench. In the playoffs against Grasshopper Club Zurich , Meunier was then used in both wins, and in four games in the group stage, which Bruges finished as group winners and remained undefeated. The sixteenth final against Aalborg BK was survived with two wins, in which he was used as well as the two victories in the second round against Beşiktaş Istanbul . In the quarter-finals, in which Bruges failed with a single away goal to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk , he was not used. In the 2014/15 championship season , Club Bruges took first place after the regular league round, but lost it to KAA Gent in the subsequent championship round . In contrast, Bruges and Meunier were able to win the cup final against RSC Anderlecht . As a runner-up, he again took part in the third qualifying round for the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League . In this, the club prevailed against the Greek runner-up Panathinaikos Athens after a 1: 2 away defeat with a 3-0 home win. In the play-offs, however, Bruges failed to Manchester United with 1: 3 and 0: 4. Meunier did not play in the four games and was only on the bench at 0: 4. Bruges were then allowed to play in the group stage of the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League , but could only celebrate a 1-0 victory against KP Legia Warsaw , with the defender scoring the goal. He managed another one at 1: 3 against FC Midtjylland , which ended up ahead of Bruges and behind SSC Napoli . Things went better in the league ; Again, Club Bruges was in first place after the league round and became champions in the end. The cup final, however, was lost 2-1 to Liège. In five years Meunier was in a total of 198 competitive games for the club on the field, scored 20 goals and was able to prepare another 22.

The Belgian wanted to move abroad last year and had offers from various Bundesliga clubs , including Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg . However, a knee injury that put him out of action for two months ruined his chances of a transfer at the time.

France

For the 2016/17 season Meunier moved to the French Ligue 1 to Paris Saint-Germain . He received a four-year contract dated June 30, 2020 with the reigning national champion, who used a release clause of 6 million euros. In his first season, the Belgian competed against previous regular right-back Serge Aurier in 36 league, national and European cups and won the French Cup , the League Cup and the national Supercup with the team . In 2017/18 PSG were eliminated in the Champions League round of 16, as in the previous season, but won the championship title, the national cup and the Supercup with Meunier. After Aurier's move, the Belgian competed with Dani Alves , none of which was permanently favored by head coach Unai Emery . Under Emery's successor Thomas Tuchel , Meunier was a full-back in the 2018/19 season, but missed a few games due to injury. In addition, Meunier improved his defensive game under the German trainer, as he tried to suppress his usual offensive impulses more often. In addition to the third Supercup victory, the national championship was won again with 105 goals and 16 points ahead of Lille OSC . A year later, Meunier, who again missed several games due to injury, won his third championship in a row with the club, with the season being canceled prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic . With Paris he reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Since the games will not be played until August 2020, the Belgian will no longer be in the squad.

Germany

For the 2020/21 season, Meunier moved to the Bundesliga for runner-up Borussia Dortmund , where he signed a contract valid until June 2024 and met his national team colleagues Thorgan Hazard and Axel Witsel . The player justified the change with a “heartfelt decision” and praised the “authenticity and down-to-earth attitude” of the club, which he described as a “further development” of his home club Bruges.

National teams

Meunier at the 2018 World Cup

Meunier played an international match for the Belgian U15 on March 29, 2006 . Five years later he was used in the U21 as part of the qualification for the EM 2013 and also scored a goal in the 4-1 against Azerbaijan . However, the Belgians only finished third behind England and Norway , which meant that the final round was missed.

15 months after his last Under-21 international match of the defender came on 14 November 2013 at his first appearance in the senior team . In the 2-0 draw against Colombia , he immediately played over 90 minutes. Five days later he came on as a substitute for Daniel Van Buyten in the 80th minute of the 3-2 draw against Japan, immediately after the 3-2 win . After that, however, he had to wait a year for his next assignment and was not considered for the 2014 World Cup . On November 12, 2014 Meunier was in a friendly against Iceland on as a substitute in the 66th minute, but then had to again eleven months until the next job waiting. In the last two games of qualifying for the Euro 2016 he was allowed to play against Andorra for 81 minutes. With a 4-1 victory, the Belgians secured participation in the European Championship finals. Three days later, the defender came on after 58 minutes in the final 3-1 win against Israel . In the following friendly matches he was not used, but was included in the Belgian squad for the European Championship finals. When this was followed in the second group game at 3: 0 against Ireland a use for 90 minutes, just as in the last group match against Sweden , in the second round against Hungary and leaving in the quarterfinals against Wales . At the 2018 World Cup in Russia , Meunier scored the first of two goals in the game for third place against England. The qualification for the European Championship , which was postponed to 2021, was achieved by the red devils and Meunier with ten wins, but due to an injury, the defender only completed four of them, but all of them over the full season.

successes

Club Bruges

Paris Saint-Germain

Private

Timmy Simons , with whom Meunier played in Bruges, praised his former team-mate after his move to Dortmund: “He has everything to enrich the Bundesliga. A tremendous amount of running ability to run up and down your side. He's a strong athlete, has a good eye, and won't let anyone pass him by. And he's hardly hurt. Thomas is a security guarantee and therefore worth gold for every team. In Germany, people love players who fight until they drop. Thomas never gives up. ”From this, Meunier also got his nickname La machine (dt. The machine), because, according to Simons, it“ goes straight through you ”.

Meunier met his future partner, Deborah, during his studies ( arts and humanities ) at the Notre-Dame Séminaire Institute in Bastogne , with whom he fathered three children.

Web links

Commons : Thomas Meunier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thomas Meunier: "La Machine" - the raging postman , bvb.de, accessed on August 28, 2020
  2. ↑ Club Brugge KV vs. Qarabağ 4 - 1
  3. ↑ Birmingham City FC vs. Club Brugge KV 2 - 2
  4. ↑ Club Brugge KV vs. KVC Westerlo 5-0 , soccerway.com
  5. ↑ Club Brugge KV vs. KP Legia Warszawa 1 - 0
  6. ↑ Thomas Meunier signs four-year deal , July 3, 2016, accessed July 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ Borussia Dortmund signs Thomas Meunier , bvb.de, accessed on June 25, 2020
  8. ↑ Belgium 0-2 Colombia
  9. ↑ Belgium 2 - 3 Japan
personal data
SURNAME Meunier, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH Sainte-Ode , Belgium