Jonjoe Kenny: Schalke's derby die-hard
Jonjoe Kenny may be a 23-year-old in his first Bundesliga season, but it's with good reason that Schalke - underdogs at the Signal Iduna Park against Borussia Dortmund - will look to the Englishman for inspiration against their Revierderby rivals.
As a born-and-bred Evertonian, Kenny probably learned the meaning of 'local bragging rights' before he was even encouraged to walk. It's par for the course on Merseyside, England, where you're either Everton blue or Liverpool red. And yet - unlike myriad other city derbies around the world - there is no religious or social discord between the clubs. The only tangible divide is the 400-metre park that separates Everton's Goodison Park and Liverpool's Anfield stadium. Not that the so-called 'friendly derby' is an amicable affair.
"They are always the most important matches of the season for the fans in Liverpool – and they were for me as well," Everton loanee Kenny told the Schalke website earlier this season. "As soon as the fixture list was published, the first thought on my mind was always to look for when the derby was. It was a really special moment for me and my family when I started my first derby."
Watch: Jonjoe Kenny is all fired up for another derby day out with Schalke
Kenny was just 20 when he made his Merseyside derby debut. The England U21 international had faced Liverpool before at U23 level, but never in the English Premier League. On paper, a veritable rookie's spread of 10 top-flight outings put him at a distinct disadvantage against big-hitters of the ilk of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane - who had 16 goals between them going into the contest - yet anyone who had predicted a field day was to be massively disappointed.
Kenny didn't celebrate a win, but he more than contributed to a hard-earned point. Mane was kept at arm's length; James Milner was denied a nailed-on goal by a body-on-the-line challenge; the ears of residents as far away as Manchester were lift ringing for a week from the sound of the vociferous defender's battle cries. Everton's Kirkdale kid may as well have been auditioning for the role of the Energizer Bunny.
"This was the match in which Jonjoe Kenny came of age," wrote the BBC, proclaiming Everton’s No.43 their nominal Man of the Match. "The 20-year-old full-back showed he has a bright future as he recovered from a nervous start to help his side earn a crucial point with a solid defensive display up against Sadio Mane."
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Kenny was recognised with the Everton Supporters' Club Young Player of the Season award, despite losing his place in the side to the returning Seamus Coleman during the latter part of 2017/18. He was limited to only 10 Premier League outings over the course of the following campaign, before David Wagner came along to unstick the Toffee and fling him into the furnace with Schalke.
"[Jonjoe] played against us when we played Everton, I followed the England U21s for a long period as well, the England U19s and U20s too when he played for them," the Schalke coach told The Independent, having observed his now go-to man in the right-back position whilst in charge of Huddersfield Town. "Jonjoe was one of the first names I put on the table in discussions with our board. Luckily, they agreed to try to sign him and luckily he decided to join our football club. And I can tell you what, he's already a fan favourite."
An industrious, heart-on-the-sleeve type of player, it's little wonder Kenny appeals to the old mining communities of Gelsenkirchen. He has made 23 Bundesliga starts in 2019/20 - only missing two matches through illness and injury. In the team statistics department, he ranks sixth for challenges won (184); fourth for most sprints (530) and intensive runs (1548); third for distance covered (150 miles) and second for attempted crosses (46). His in-built understanding of and respect for the Revierderby between Schalke and Dortmund - Germany’s biggest rivalry - earns him extra brownie points.
"I know just how much this game means to everyone in and around the club," Kenny explained prior to his first taste of the mother of all derbies in October 2019. "I have experience in this type of fixture from playing in the Merseyside derby for Everton against Liverpool. As a player, you know that it's no ordinary match. I know what the fans expect from us, and how hard we need to work in order to be successful."
Kenny duly rose to the occasion on Matchday 9 as part of a Schalke defence which kept Dortmund from scoring in a keenly contested goalless draw at the Veltins-Arena. He covered 6.51 miles - a distance bettered by only three teammates - was on the ball throughout (60 touches), and won a respectable nine tackles in a notoriously feisty fixture. Had fellow Brit Rabbi Matondo made more of the Liverpudlian's driving second-half run and eye-of-the-needle pass, the royal-blue half of Germany's industrial Ruhr district may well have been celebrating a win.
Watch: Kenny - "The derby gave me goosebumps!"
Only a point separated seventh-placed Schalke and fifth-in-the-table Dortmund at full-time in the 95th Revierderby of the Bundesliga era, but fortunes have diverged significantly ahead of the upcoming edition. The Royal Blues are 10 points outside the UEFA Champions League places and a further four worse off than free-scoring Dortmund - currently second - following an alarming run of one win in 10 matches and seven without a victory. On the face of it, Wagner's men are in freefall - but there is a silver lining.
After conceding 14 goals and scoring one between Matchdays 19 to 24 - drawing and losing three apiece - Schalke are showing the green-shoots of recovery. Die Knappen went down to a respectable 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup quarter-finals, before picking up a point against a Hoffenheim side that has already beaten Bayern and Dortmund in the league this term. Wagner's move from a four-man defence to a back three with wing-backs has steadied the sinking ship ahead of the biggest game in any given Schalke season. Not that form counts for much in the 'mother of all derbies'.
Schalke were the underdogs earlier in the campaign, but arguably deserved more than a point. Despite flirting with relegation going into their previous trip to Dortmund, they romped to a 4-2 win that all but ended the Black-Yellows' title hopes. A year earlier, the Royal Blues hit back from 4-0 down after 25 minutes to draw 4-4. And when Kenny's Everton held Liverpool, there was a not insignificant 11-point gap between 10th and fourth respectively. Even if Schalke had used up all their nine lives, they'd still be in a position to play cat and mouse.
"What more could you want than to go an play in the derby?" Kenny responded when asked by bundesliga.com about the significance of the Revierderby. "Whether you're playing well or not, as a player it’s something that you want to be involved in, to play in these big games.
"As soon as the first whistle is blown, it’s up to you to deliver a good performance, not to panic, to follow the coach’s game plan and to give it your all," he added in an interview with the Schalke website. "It's not about form - derbies are no ordinary games."
With royal-blue blood pumping through his veins, Kenny knows that more than most.
Chris Mayer-Lodge
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