The same jerky run, eyes fixed on the opposing goalkeeper and cross-foot at the time of the execution. For his first match in Ligue 1, last February 1 in Angers, the striker from El Bilal Touré scored his first goal by mimicking the gestures of Neymar by drawing his penalty! The image had marked. "His attitude and his carelessness challenged me and, moreover, at no time was he scheduled to take the penalty," recalls David Guion, the Reims coach.
El Bilal took the ball and asked the attendant, our captain Yunis Abdelhamid, if he could shoot it. Yunis came to see me and said: I want to leave him , which I accepted. Despite the long wait between the referee's whistle and the execution of the penalty due to VAR (video assist to refereeing), we felt El Bilal calmly waiting for his moment juggling the ball, then he transformed it with great mastery. "
He does not want to be reduced to his way of drawing penalties
With this new confidence, Touré repeated on Sunday February 16, offering the victory in Reims against Rennes (1-0) on… penalty. The young 18-year-old Malian striker does not hide from being inspired by the Brazilian striker of PSG whose videos he watches in loop. He particularly likes the way to take the penalties of the former Barcelonese because these are in his eyes a guarantee of success. During the five training sessions only, in which he had taken part with the pennant team before the match in Angers, Touré had trained in this particular technique and had already succeeded in several attempts.
Today, Rémois does not want to be reduced to his way of drawing penalties. Despite his youth, El Bilal Touré already has an atypical journey to say the least. His story begins in Côte d'Ivoire, where he comes from, and extends to Mali when he was recruited in 2016 by an academy, Afrique Football Elite (AFE). Quickly, the player, skilful on both feet, demonstrates his qualities by chaining the goals and allowing his team to access the Malian D2. After naturalization, he even won the U20 African Cup of Nations in 2019.
A Reims executive, who had met him at AFE, smelled the good deal and offered him a test at the training center at the Stade de Reims at the start of the year where he demonstrated his potential. President Jean-Pierre Caillot, seduced, announces that he does not want to let the kid go again, and engages him in stride for the next five years with Reims. Upon his arrival, his Malian teammate Moussa Doumbia chaperoned him.
When to throw it in the deep end
Its integration is then staggering. He, who has never played on a firm pitch before, is decisive for his first meeting with the Rémoise reserve (N2) on January 11 by scoring and then delivering a decisive pass after coming into play 15 minutes from the end. The next match, he scored the only goal against the Lusitanos Saint-Maur. His services allow him to get on with the pros very quickly.
"I felt it was time to throw it in the deep end," said David Guion. He is a very complete boy. El Bilal has an ability to repeat efforts, he can keep the ball back to the goal and he is able to take the depth, even if he still has to work his technique in small perimeters and his touch of the ball. These qualities that the nugget will try to put into practice again this Saturday evening in Monaco.