Bosnia and Herzegovina clash reunites Germany with Edin Džeko
When Germany take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Nations League, they’ll be facing up against a man most of the country hasn't thought about in a fair while but once gave defenders up and down the country nightmares.
However, when Edin Džeko comes into focus before their pair of autumn clashes, it will bring back fond memories of one of the most astonishing Bundesliga seasons in modern history.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina captain is his country’s all-time top appearance maker and scorer. He will go down as one of the modern game’s great strikers thanks to a goal and trophy-laden career.
And his first title was arguably the most incredible of the lot, coming in his second season with Wolfsburg. Die Wölfe’s scouts impressed by picking up Džeko from Teplice in the Czech league aged 21, and the potential they’d spotted quickly came to the fore.
Bayern Munich weren’t the unbeatable side that put together a 11-year winning streak from 2012 to 2023, but they were still the watermark who had dominated the decade when Džeko rocked up and put away eight goals in his debut campaign in 2007/08.
Strike partner Grafite led the way with 11 goals as Wolfsburg achieved their best-ever Bundesliga finish of fifth in Felix Magath’s first season and, while it was progress, no one could have predicted what would happen next time around.
Wolfsburg would clinch their first-ever Bundesliga title in 2008/09, winning on the final day from Bayern and largely thanks to their attacking prowess, with Džeko (26) and Grafite (28) scoring 54 goals between them in the league.
Crucial to their Bundesliga glory was a famous 5-1 Matchday 26 win over Bayern, with both strikers grabbing braces and Grafite scoring one of the greatest goals in Bundesliga history. Equally crucial was Džeko's remarkable run of form in front of goal at the back end of the season: he scored in 13 of the final 16 games, accounting for 21 of his 26 goals, and bagged two hat-tricks.
Watch: Grafite's wonder goal in Wolfsburg's 5-1 win over Bayern
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With a further 10 Bundesliga assists that season, Džeko ended the campaign with 36-goal involvements in the league alone. He was pipped by Grafite to the Torjägerkanone that year but would win it for himself courtesy of 22 more goals the following season.
Magath had already left for Schalke by then, bowing out after league glory and Wolfsburg haven't repeated the magic since the band broke up.
Grafite went on to make a hero of himself in Dubai, while Džeko left six months earlier than his strike partner as the Bundesliga’s most-expensive departure at the time when he joined newly-monied Manchester City in England's Premier League.
He did so after racking up 85 goals and 35 assists from 142 appearances with the Wolves and Džeko has scored everywhere he's travelled since, winning nine more trophies at club level across stints with City, Roma, Inter Milan and, currently, Fenerbahçe.
Watch: Edin Dzeko - Made in the Bundesliga
Last year, he said he still feels like he's 22, and his supreme game intelligence, physicality and link-up play means that he can keep shining when other striker’s reliant on their pace may be forced towards retirement far earlier.
That means even close to 40 he’ll still be a threat against Germany, who will again meet a player who is not just part of the fabric of the Bundesliga, but every country he plays in.
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