The way Alphonso Davies was running up and down the left flank for Bayern Munich on Tuesday had his teammates comparing him to a cartoon character.
The Canadian teenager was one of Bayern’s standout players as the club defeat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 to close in on another Bundesliga title, with his marauding runs a key part of the team’s attack and defense. He probably prevented a goal when he raced back to deny Norwegian star Erling Haaland a scoring opportunity and almost created one of his own when he eluded four Dortmund players before being bundled over by Mats Hummels.
On his fastest run, the left-back was clocked at a top speed of 35.3 kph (21.9 mph).
“Alphonso is a player with a lot of heart and a lot of power, with extreme power,” Bayern forward Thomas Müller said. “Sometimes maybe he is not in the best position on the field, but he gets the opponent thinking, ‘Oh, I have time, I have time,’ and then, ‘Meep, meep! Meep, meep!’ The Road Runner, the FC Bayern Road Runner, comes and steals the ball.”
Bayern said Davies made 42 sprints in all. He was involved in plenty of challenges, too, and was harshly booked late on for bringing down American teenager Gio Reyna outside the penalty area when TV replays showed he got the ball.
Davies, who started the season with Bayern’s reserves, has now started every game in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League for the senior team since Union Berlin visited in the league on 28 October.
His emergence is bad news for Bayern’s record signing Lucas Hernandez. The French World Cup winner, who joined from Atletico Madrid last summer for 80 million euros ($90.5 million at the time), has had to be satisfied with substitute appearances. Hernandez only came on in the 85th minute versus Dortmund.
Davies joined Bayern for 18.75 million euros from the Vancouver Whitecaps in January 2019 and the Bavarian club has already extended his contract by two years to 2025.
