Bundesliga Interviews Gio Reyna

Young Borussia Dortmund star-in-the-making Giovanni Reyna was the subject of an interview with the Bundesliga this week! If you’re signed up for the Bundesliga Newsletter, check your inbox and you should see the interview in today’s Newsletter.

Unpaid promotion aside, it’s a pretty great interview done by the league about this young American excelling in Germany. You can tell from reading his responses about Dortmund that he is all-in on what they are building there at the moment, and how he looked at what Christian Pulisic did at Dortmund when he was there that swayed him on becoming a BVB player in 2019:

“Everything about Dortmund and the opportunities they had, giving young players playing time, playing in the Champions League and all of the biggest competitions. They made it feel like home from day 1, made me feel like I was really wanted here, so it has been a perfect decision so far.”

Something from the interview that really caught my eye was about his “bromance” with Erling Haaland. No, I’m not using bromance for the sake of using it, Gio literally said bromance when describing his friendship with Haaland:

“It’s crazy to think about it, when you compare it to football because football is such a huge thing, you’ve so many huge players, and to be one of the bromances is crazy to think about. But I just think it’s all natural, nothing forced, maybe some of them are forced but with me and Erling it’s all real and feels natural. We felt love since day 1 and I think it’s showing off on the field too, so it’s cool to hear and hopefully we can create more goals together.”

A 17-year old American is best friends with one of the biggest rising stars and a potential FIFA Golden Boy winner, what in the world is going on? You can see the chemistry these two share on the pitch, with Gio having assisted on four Haaland goals dating back to January. But it’s more than just their on-field chemistry, these two seem like genuine friends thanks to Erling driving Gio around since Gio couldn’t drive yet:

“I just think we came into the first team at the same time, obviously him getting bought from Salzburg and me getting promoted. Ever since then, we kind of looked at each other, saying we don’t have as many friends as the other guys do, so we talked to each other right away and got along. On the pitch also, he kind of just told me what he likes and I can play into his strengths, so he told me just to play the ball in behind and I really saw his speed right away and you can see it’s paying off. That chemistry is working and I am just trying to make the whole team’s life easy.

He is a safe driver, he is giving me some tips because I’m doing my licence right now too. He told me once I turn 18, he’s not driving me anymore, because I should have my licence by then but hopefully the next month of him driving me should be fun, so it’s good to have him.”

Gio also talked about his decision to pick Dortmund, which of his skills/playstyle he got from his mother (former USWNT player and UNC women’s soccer star Danielle Egan) and his father (USMNT legend and current Austin FC Sporting Director Claudio Reyna), being one of a record 10 Americans on Champions League rosters, his thoughts on the Revierderby and the big matches against Bayern Munich.