Great ball reading, excellent understanding of space, rugged defending, Calvin Bassey is a mixture of the old-school and the new school arts of defending.
Against Liverpool, he had a fantastic game marking one of the world’s best forwards in Mohammed Salah.
While he could be partly blamed for the Portuguese’s goal, as he got sucked in by an offside trap, the experienced Salah stood right on the danger line and delivered the opener.
That, however is no blot to Bassey’s night as he fought and was hard as nails. There are still areas to improve upon as his development continues but what’s ahead for the former Rangers star is promising.
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”Bassey is going straight to the top” was the comment of a Twitter user and there’s hardly any sense of objection to that.
His solid display got everyone talking and the consistency with which he shows his quality is reassuring.
While Ajax’s valiant performance suffered a late heartbreak, Bassey was all smiles as he embraced Salah after the game. It was a dream coming true again. To play in the best atmospheres in the world on big European nights is the dream and ‘Big Shirley’ is living it.