As Arsenal prepare for their Champions League knockout game against Porto on Wednesday night, one of their former players, Donyell Malen, has been staring for Borussia Dortmund on the very same stage.
The 25-year-old has had some journey in football so far, playing for a number of Europe’s prestigious clubs and getting coached by some of the greatest.
One of them included legendary striker Thierry Henry who worked with Donyell Malen for a year when they both were at Arsenal.
‘I had him for a year because I was passing my badges there,’ shared Thierry Henry, whilst speaking to CBS Sports on Paramount+ (20/02/24 at 10:30 pm).
Fast forward to the present and the versatile forward has just scored for Borussia Dortmund during their 1-1 draw against his old club PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Champions League knockout tie.
Donyell Malen started his career at Ajax, before moving to the Emirates in 2015, where he failed to make an appearance, before that road led him to PSV.
That’s when things started to change for the player because he proceeded to win the Eredivisie title and then Borussia Dortmund snapped him up in 2021.
Thierry Henry admitted that it probably would have been an ‘emotional’ night for him returning to Eindhoven, but he is ‘really happy’ things have changed for the good because ‘people doubted him’.
From Arsenal to Borussia Dortmund
Pre-match: “I like Donyell Malen,” said Henry. “I like his story. He is coming back to the ground where he won the league six years ago with Eindhoven.
“He had to battle cruciate ligaments. A lot of stories. He was at Ajax as a youngster. He couldn’t cope with it, then he came to Arsenal and couldn’t make it at Arsenal, then he went to Eindhoven and he made a path for himself.
Post-match comments after his goal in the Champions League: “I had him for a year because I was passing my badges there. It didn’t work out for him at Arsenal. I thought he had some quality, but at Arsenal, you have a lot of quality.
“Then he went to Eindhoven and played for a young PSV. That’s the second team and he ended up doing brilliantly, which I am very happy about because, at the very beginning, people were doubting him. He trusted himself and his qualities, with his family, and he made it happen and won the league with PSV.
“Now, he plays for Holland. He scored tonight. It must have been emotional to play against Eindhoven, a team that he won the league with almost six years ago, so I am very happy for him.”
Arsenal’s trip to Porto
These Champions League away trips are never easy, especially during the knockout stages and Arsenal will find that out when they take on Porto on Wednesday night.
Given the form they are in after scoring 11 Premier League goals, you would back them to score.
But they have to be wary that Porto, who are sitting third in Portugal’s top-tier, will throw everything at their opponents, more than what West Ham United and Burnley dished out.
Of course, the perfect scenario will be to secure another comfortable victory by at least a three-goal margin because that then allows some form of rotation in the second leg.
But sometimes, just coming out with a win, even if it’s a scrappy 1-0, is something you would just take because that’s probably closer to reality.
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