Kimberly Ezekwem: Ex-Bayern LB whose role model is Alaba makes his Bundesliga debut

Former Bayern Munich youth teamer of Nigerian descent Kimberly Ezekwem has made his German Bundesliga debut aged 21 years and 321 days.

The Super Eagles-eligible left-back was in action for the last seven minutes as his side SC Freiburg were beaten 1-0 by RB Leipzig at the Europa-Park Stadion on Saturday evening.

Wearing the number 24 at the back of his jersey, Ezekwem replaced Christian Günter for his first appearance in the German top-flight.

Prior to the clash against RB Leipzig, the German-Nigerian defender received two call-ups for Bundesliga matches but was not utilized off the bench by manager Christian Streich.

Ezekwem was one of the three youngsters of Nigerian descent added to SC Freiburg's first team squad ahead of the 2021-2022 campaign, the others being highly-rated goalkeeper Noah Atubolu and Kevin Schade, who was loaned out to Brentford in the January transfer window. 

He has played a couple of friendly matches for Freiburg's first team this season and was registered for the Europa League. 

Ezekwem has cited Bayern Munich academy product who is now at European champions Real Madrid, David Alaba as his role model.

The Munich native told allnigeriasoccer.com before his transfer to Freiburg : "'I don't like rating myself. David Alaba is my role model at Bayern because I love the way he plays.''

Ezekwem was called up to Germany's U20 national team in August 2021 but withdrew from the squad due to a muscle injury that kept him sidelined for three months. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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