Player of the season: Elvedi and Bensebaini in focus

Patrick Herrmann, Jonas Hofmann, Florian Neuhaus, Lars Stindl, Nico Elvedi, Ramy Bensebaini, Tobias Sippel and Oscar Wendt are up for Borussia’s Player of the Season award, presented by Cichon Personalmanagement. We look back at Nico Elvedi and Ramy Bensebaini’s seasons.

Nico Elvedi is one of eight Foals up for Player of the Season 2020/21 presented by Cichon Personalmanagement, with the 24-year-old winning Player of the Month in January. That month saw Elvedi put in a great performance in the 4-2 victory against Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 18 of the Bundesliga season. The Swiss international performed his usual solid defensive work, but was also clinical in front of goal, scoring the first brace of his professional career. Elvedi headed in the opener from a Jonas Hofmann free kick before reacting fastest to poke home a rebound to make it 2-2 after Roman Bürki’s save. These were the second and third goals of the season for the centre-back following his winning goal against Werder Bremen on the previous match.

No more goals in the league followed this for Elvedi, but the Swiss had already netted in both the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League. The 24-year-old scored five goals in 40 matches played this season, out of a total of 46 possible games. Elvedi, who extended his contract at Gladbach until 2024, is a central player for the Foals and according to Max Eberl, “one of the best centre-backs in the Bundesliga.” His outstanding passing rate of 94.09% also speaks volumes for this, and Elvedi leads the Bundesliga in this ranking ahead of Dortmund’s Manuel Akanji and Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah.

Bensebaini: Hard tackling, hardworking and strong on the front foot

Also in the running for Player of the Season is Ramy Bensebaini. Gladbach fans chose the 26-year-old as Player of the Month for March after he spent the DFB-Pokal quarterfinal against Dortmund (0-1) ploughing up and down the right flank. The left-back fought for every inch, throwing himself into challenges and almost putting the Foals ahead shortly after the break. Unfortunately, Dortmund goalie Marwin Hitz was able to save his effort from the back stick. The Algerian showed what he's made of in that game: always looking for a way forward while also fulfilling his defensive duties and fighting for the ball.

Bensebaini was among the Foals who started the most games under games Marco Rose last season. He played a total of 33 competitive games during the campaign, scoring seven goals. He returned a positive COVID-19 test result last November, forcing him to miss the last few games of the calendar year, including Champions League games against Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Bensebaini was able to return in the new year, quickly returning to his former strengths.

You can still vote for your Player of the Season via the FohlenApp. Voting closes on Sunday, 6th June at midnight.