That Karim Konate has an incredible knack for goalscoring was always obvious. That there would be just 10 minutes between the Ivorian Red Bull making his competitive debut and scoring his first goal was something quite special. The 18-year-old could have netted even sooner, in fact, had a post not denied him. A little later he made no mistake, however.

I wasn't due to be in the squad at all on Sunday, originally, which was a bit disappointing to begin with. I was added later though.

Hitting the post reflected the whole situation well. You think you have missed the first chance, but you keep giving your all and the goal comes! I was thrilled in the moment, of course!

Karim Konate

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Having been spotted by scouts as a young street footballer, Karim soon developed his way into the international limelight at ASEC Mimosas in his home city of Abidjan. In 2021, he had made his debut for the Ivorian national team, and in 2022 he was in the Ivory Coast's African Cup of Nations squad. Comparisons have been made in his homeland for some time with Didier Drogba.

Our youngster does not see himself as fitting that bill yet, even if he does try to emulate Drogba and has a few obvious points of similarity to the former superstar. Although Karim does not have the same stature at 178 cm, he is both an agile and extremely strong player in the air.

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Since he signed for us in the summer of last year, he has impressed as a co-operation player at FC Liefering (with 10 goals in 14 appearances). He also has more goal involvements than any other player for us in the UEFA Youth League, with five goals and two assists from six matches. His debut goal for the first team was definitely not an accident, and we can certainly look forward to more great Konate action in future.

Karim's debut goal and all the other key scenes of our 3-1 win against WSG Tirol can be seen in our highlights:

to the highlights

This is Karim Konate