Driven by the longing for victories

It hits and hits and hits. Selina Cerci is playing the best first half of her career so far. Since her professional debut in Munich, she has been on target, but at Turbine Potsdam the goalscorer has finally made it to the Bundesliga.

The last game before the winter break was against FC Bayern Munich, Cercis Ex-Club, in mid-December. There she gained her first professional experience from 2017 to 2018 – at the age of 17. She played 22 times in the Bayern reserve jersey and scored 14 times. For Cerci, it was an “indescribable feeling” to score against their ex-club for a 1-0 lead for Potsdam. It was her eighth goal of the season, as she scored so many goals in the entire past season. After a load jam at the beginning of the season, the striker broke the knot against Essen on the 4th match day. Now she is the second best shooter in the league with eight goals.

Cerci has got a real run and has scored at least once in the last four games. In addition, she is Turbines’ long-running favorite and was always on duty for her team except for six minutes during the current season.

From the start in the second Bundesliga in Munich, the Kiel native went back north and to Werder Bremen in 2018. There she made her Bundesliga debut and there, too, Cerci was successful right in front of the goal and was able to net five times in 13 games in her first season. Even if the striker was satisfied in Bremen, she wanted to take the next step at some point, which she ultimately looked for and found with Turbine.

“I am grateful that I am currently getting so much match practice here and that I can develop myself further here,” said the 21-year-old with satisfaction. That was not always the case, Cerci often came back from the bank in her premiere season in Potsdam. “This season I always play from the start and in general I just got in better.”

After an injury at the beginning of the 2020/21 season that had not yet completely healed, Cerci “needed a little to get in and find the team”, which is now the case, which means that she can “play freely”. Her double pack against food gave her self-confidence. Cerci sees an indicator of her current success above all in her team, which always has her back.

The game against Bayern ended up being 1: 1 due to a controversial penalty for Munich. “It is of course a little annoying that a penalty like that decides the game and we leave the three points,” said Cerci, classifying the result. Left three points against FC Bayern Munich, the current league leader in the Bundesliga.

This shows the self-confidence of Cercis and Turbine, which they have built up over the course of the season. The bottom line now is 21 points from 11 games and fifth place in the table. A very successful first half of the season, in which the Potsdam striker naturally played a decisive role. Eight goals and three assists – an impressive record. Of course, the topic of the national team is inevitable.

In the press conference after the Bayern game, guest coach Jens Scheuer even said that Cerci belongs in the DFB-Elf with these performances. The striker doesn’t want to let the topic get too close: “I just try to help the team with my performance and do my thing. Ultimately, I can’t decide whether I’ll be invited to the national team anyway. I always say if it comes, then it will and if it doesn’t, then it won’t. I don’t stress myself at all and I’m just super happy that things are going so well for me and the team. “

In the table there are only Bayern, Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt in front of Turbine, all teams with a large club and a financially strong partner. This probably explains the modest response from Cercis and Turbine head coach Sofian Chahed to the question of whether third place in the table, which would also mean qualifying for the Champions League, is the new advertised goal: “No, we have no fixed goal. We said before the season that we just want to watch our performance and grow together as a team. What will happen at the end of the season, whether it’s third place or whatever, remains to be seen. Also, because it is so tight in the table, you can’t say what it will look like in the end, because this season there are simply top teams. “

Cerci still hopes to be nominated for the EM in England

However, Cerci has no specific sporting goals for the new year or the second half of the season and only wishes to remain injury-free and develop personally. “I’m not someone who sets goals and says I’ll score so and so many goals. I’m very relaxed about that. For me it doesn’t matter who scores the goals in the team, the main thing is that we score them at all, ”she adds.

The winter break officially ended for Cerci and her teammates on January 3rd, when the first training session was due. The Potsdam women have been in the training camp in Lindow since Monday and are preparing intensively for the second half of the season. And then on January 29 there is the catch-up game against the record champions and current table third from Wolfsburg, which had to be postponed shortly before Christmas due to several corona cases at Turbine. Cerci is ready to fight: “We don’t have to hide under any circumstances. If we go in there with a lot of self-confidence and everyone believes in themselves and the team, we can keep the three points at home. ”

At the latest with this statement it becomes clear that Turbine can be expected in the second half of the season and possibly also with Selina Cerci in the national team. If she continues to attract attention with such strong performances, it is surely only a matter of time. And maybe it will work out for the EM, which starts in July.