Mario Goetze: 10 Things You Didn't Know About 'The German Lionel Messi'

You must have heard the name Mario Goetze by now. The 18-year-old caused quite a stir in Germany last year when he was thrown into the Borussia Dortmund first team following injury to Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa.

The teenage prodigy could so easily have been overawed by thrust into the limelight in front of the imposing Westfalenstadion crowd, but he flourished as Juergen Klopp's side stormed to the Bundesliga title.

In the midst of all that, Goetze also made his senior debut for his country last season, and in the summer was lined with moves to Arsenal, Inter Milan and Real Madrid among others.

Here we give you the lowdown on the player dubbed "The German Lionel Messi."

He Could Have Been a Bayern Munich Player

Goetze has been at Dortmund since he was just nine years old, ever since he was scouted at local side Eintracht Hombruch. The creative midfielder excelled at every level of the club's youth set-up.

"From the first time I saw him," said Klopp said, "I was just counting the days until I could promote him to the senior squad without acting irresponsibly."

However, he could so easily have been on the books of Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich instead. Goetze was born in the Bavarian town of Memmingen, very much in the catchment area of Bayern's regional scouting network.

When young Mario was just six years old, his father, a professor, accepted a job at Dortmund's Technical University, and the Goetzes upped sticks and moved to the Ruhr Valley. Bayern's loss was most definitely Dortmund's gain.

The Boy Is an Assist Machine

Goetze wasted no time in fitting in with the first team last season, scoring six league goals and setting up a further 15 as the club claimed their seventh Bundesliga title. He has already netted once and assisted a further three goals in four matches this season.

But even before that, the playmaker was scoring goals and laying on chance after chance for his teammates at all levels. Between 2007 and 2010, Goetze made 41 youth and reserve appearances for the club, during which time he scored 20 goals and assisted another 13. Meanwhile, for his country, he scored three and set up another two at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup.

Such statistics for one so young are pretty imposing, and to think that he has around 15 years in which to see his vision and technique improve is a truly exciting prospect.

He Has Attracted Praise from Some Heavyweights of the German Game

Klopp is not the only one who has been falling over himself to praise Goetze's prodigious talent.

Mathias Sammer, the one-time European Footballer of the Year who won the Champions League with Dortmund before becoming the German FA's technical director, famously called him "one of the best talents we've ever had."

Despite his manager's pleas to the media to not jeopardise the youngster's development by hyping him up too much, the newspaper Neue Ruhr Zeitung couldn't contain itself, stating: "He is not just the talent of the century, he is a white Brazilian."

But for a German there can be no higher praise than from Der Kaiser himself, Franz Beckenbauer. The Germany legend said of the most exciting talent to emerge from the country in a generation: "It is not possible to stop Mario Goetze. He has the same assets as Messi."

"There is no one playing better than him. He runs through opponents as though they aren't there. He is an instinctive footballer, just like Messi."

And, just like that, a thousand 'new Messi' headlines (including this one) were conceived.

He Saved Dortmund's Stuttering Title Charge

Dortmund eventually won the title last season by finishing seven points ahead of runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, with a superior goal difference of 25 to boot. 

However, it was not always plain sailing. At one point in February, they led the league by 14 points, but at the start of April that gap had been cut to just four. That weekend, Leverkusen beat Kaiserslautern away, meaning Dortmund had to avoid defeat at home to Hannover in the later kick-off to avoid ending the round of fixtures with the slenderest of leads. That looked a distinct possibility when they went behind to Mohamed Abdellaoue's goal.

With little more than half an hour to go, up stepped Goetze to save the day. The teenage prodigy picked the ball up in midfield and proceeded to run past half of the Hannover team before striking past goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz into the bottom corner. Dortmund went on to win the match 4-1, and they never looked back.

He Is Already a Record Breaker

As is often the case with a player who bursts onto the scene at the top level at such a young age, Goetze has already played his way into the record book.

His aforementioned haul of 15 assists in Dortmund's title-winning season is the highest number in a single campaign since Opta began studiously compiling such statistics.

On the international stage, too, the teenager has already made his mark on the history not just of the German national team but of the nation itself. When he and Leverkusen forward Andre Schuerrle came on as substitutes final the final 15 minutes of Der Mannschaft's game against Sweden in November 2010, the pair were the first players born after the reunification of Germany to become internationals for the country.

Last month, when he scored Germany's second goal of the game in a 3-2 friendly win over Brazil, he became the youngest player to net for the country in the post-war era since Klaus Stuermer in 1954. Both players struck for Germany aged 19 years and 68 days. 

He Is Already Giving Joachim Loew a Headache

When Germany's young team stormed to the semi-finals of the World Cup last year, it looked as though they had the nucleus of a team that could stay together for 10 years or more.

But that was before the emergence of Goetze, who already looks set to become a major player for his country, despite not yet being 20 or reaching double figures in senior caps.

The only problem is that Germany already have a pretty handy number 10 in the form of Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil, and national team boss Joachim Loew admits he will have difficulty trying to accommodate Goetze in the same team.

Loew said: "I don’t see (Mario) on one of the wings, neither left or right. He has the skills to play in the centre of our midfield. It will be a problem." 

With either Sami Khedira or Toni Kroos currently preferred in the deeper midfield role and Bastian Schweinsteiger a permanent fixture in the side, it is up to Goetze to force his way into a regular starting berth.

He Has Already Made Some Bad Headlines

Don't be fooled by the angelic young face and slight frame; Goetze knows how to mix it up.

In the drab 0-0 draw away to Leverkusen at the end of last month, Goetze was sent off by top referee Wolfgang Stark for apparently retaliating to a tackle from Hanno Balitsch. The teenager was also accused of spitting at the Leverkusen midfielder, something he strenuously denies. 

He said on his personal website: "This was the first red card of my entire career. Even if there are camera angles that might show a different view, I must stress that I never wanted to assault Balitsch, nor did I.

"The accusation that I would spit at a colleague is absurd. This is something I would never do in my life. Anyone who knows me can confirm this.

"I spat at the pitch, that is all."

He Is Living Proof of the Theory of Nominative Determinism

It's a pretty contrived theory, but there are those who believe that the name you are given can have an influence in deciding the course your life takes, specifically what job you have and skills you acquire.

Of course, it could be just a coincidence that Arsene Wenger manages Arsenal, that the late Amy Winehouse had alcohol problems or that Congressman Anthony Wiener liked to send pictures of certain parts of his anatomy to women who were not his wife.

You are free to come to your own conclusions as to the validity of such a theory, but one thing is for certain; Mario Goetze is on track to become a true 'Fussball Goetze' in his homeland, because Goetze means idol in German.

Cristiano Ronaldo Has Never Heard of Him

There is a school of thought that suggests most footballers don't really know a lot about football. While avid fans of the game will watch virtually any live action they can get their hands on, there are plenty of players who do not like to take their job home with them.

One such player appears to be former World Footballer of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid forward did little to dispel accusations that he is too self-involved to know what is going on outside his front door when he was asked about one of the brightest talents in world football.

When asked about Goetze by a journalist from German newspaper Bild, he said: "Who's Goetze? In what position does he play? Is he good?"

He's a Snoop Dogg Fan

North Rhine-Westphalia may be a world away from South Central L.A., but Goetze is quite the hip hop fan.

He lists his favourite song as 'Sweat' by Snoop Dogg, while he is also fond of Lil' Wayne. 

Black Eyed Peas' "Just can't get enough" is a must before every match for him, but then nobody's perfect.