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Meet Alphonso Davies: UEFA Champions League winning defender from Ghana

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Mon, 24 Aug 2020 Source: pulse.com.gh

Alphonso Davies was the revelation of the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League. The Bayern Munich left-full back who was born at Buduburam, a refugee camp in Ghana is the talk of town after he played a crucial role as the Bavarians won the UEFA Champions League for the sixth time

The 19-year-old orchestrated Chelsea's fall as Bayern Munich thrashed them 3-0 in their first leg round of 16 clash and he has since been at the top of his game, especially his role in stopping Lionel Messi as the Bavarian giants whipped the Catalans 8-2 was commended.

Alphonso Davies rise to stardom has been a swift one. He joined the team B of Bayern Munich in 2018 and in just a season he impressed and got promoted to the senior team in 2019

Alphonso's father Debeah Davies and his mother Victoria Davies fled to Ghana during the second Liberian Civil war which displaced over 45,000 people.

They lived at Buduburam a refugee camp in the Central Region of Ghana where Alphonso and his other siblings were born.

His parents relocated to Canada when he was just five years old.

Alphonso Davies has however ended up playing his international football for Canada, having made 17 caps, scoring five goals.

Alphonso Davies could have played for the Black Stars due to citizenship by birthplace but as it stands now the four-time champions of Africa have lost him to Canada.

Davies was born to Liberian parents in Buduburam, a refugee camp in Ghana.

Below are series of interviews compiled by Marca.com on Alphonso Davies' family, early life and football development:

Alphonso Davies mum and dad have narrated the early struggles their family went through.

"To survive, you had to get hold of a gun and we weren't willing to do that," Debeah said."The landscape was scary; you had to step over corpses to go to eat," Victoria added.

Davies started school in Edmonton in 2006 and would soon get used to having a ball at his feet.He became part of Free Footie, an organisation set up to allow 4,000 vulnerable children in Edmonton to play football for free.

"Alphonso is an example of what can happen when everything goes right, but that kid had something special," revealed Free Footie's CEO, Tim Adams.

Adams recommended Davies to Marco Bossio, a teacher at the St. Nicholas Catholic School and director of the football academy. Bossio went on to alert Vancouver Whitecaps about the youngster's talent.

"Davies had a strong enough mentality to go higher," Bossio said."I called [the Whitecaps] by phone, they invited him for a trial and they saw what I'd seen."At the age of 14, Davies faced a move of more than 1,000 kilometres to Vancouver and his mother wasn't so sure.

"I was scared," Victoria said."I know what some young people do and I didn't want that to happen to him. I tried to delay it until he was 16 or 17, but he promised me that he wasn't going to change and that he'd make us proud.

"Davies made his MLS debut for the Whitecaps at the age of 15 years and eight months, becoming the first player born in the 21st century to play in the USA's top tie

At the 2017 Gold Cup, the then-winger became the youngest goalscorer in Canadian history when he netted against French Guyana.

Bayern Munich came calling in the summer of 2018 and Davies made the move to Germany once he turned 18.

"We signed him because we saw him as one of the best players of his generation," said Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. Davies made his first-team debut for Bayern in January 2019, but he's really made a name for himself in Europe this season.

Originally a winger, the 19-year-old has transformed into one of the best left-backs in the world and stands out because of his pace and dribbling.

"His development has been phenomenal," remarked Hansi Flick."He was signed as a winger, but he's doing an incredible job at full-back.

"We've never had a player like him," admitted Thomas Muller."You don't often see just young players with his talent," said Jerome Boateng.

"We can expect a lot from him because he can improve."Davies has also impressed the people at Bayern with his character off the pitch, as much as his football on it.

"He doesn't just fascinate our fans with his way of playing, but also because of the way he is off the pitch," said chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

"You can be the best, but if you don't respect others, nobody's going to like you," says Victoria.

Source: pulse.com.gh
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