Sami Hyypiä soon finds his feet in the German Bundesliga

Former Liverpool central defender enjoys life in Leverkusen

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By Tapio Keskitalo
     
      For Bayer 04 Leverkusen and the club's summer signing Sami Hyypiä, the new Bundesliga season has got off on just the right note.
      With seven games played, Leverkusen are level on points at the top of the table, behind Hamburg SV on goal difference, and Hyypiä's influence has been obvious.
      Thus far the side has proved to have the stingiest defence in the league: just five goals conceded in five wins and two draws.
     
The veteran Finnish defender has been getting rave reviews from all sides - from coach Jupp Heynckes, the Leverkusen Director of Sport Rudi Völler, the German press, and the local fans.
      In the short space of a few weeks, "Big Sam", who left Liverpool in May as a certified Anfield legend after ten years of sterling service with the club, has re-invented himself as a star of the Bundesliga, something that no Finnish footballer before him has managed, although several have tried.
     
Some idea of the appreciation he has already won with his new employers can be had from the fact that the highly influential German magazine Kicker ranks Hyypiä as the best defender of the first part of the season, alongside Frankfurt's Marco Russ and the Croatian Josip Simunic, who plays for 1899 Hoffenheim.
      Last season, not one Bundesliga defender enjoyed such a high rating as the Finn and his two colleagues have at present.
     
If any further evidence of the 35-year-old's "breakthrough" were needed, the Bundesliga website is full of articles on Hyypiä and his career.
      The man himself takes his usuual modest view on all the attention.
      "Generally I don't really want to read anything about myself. Perhaps something about Bayer Leverkusen - us winning something. A headline about that would make me happy", he says in response to a question on the Bundesliga pages about what his favourite story about Sami Hyypiä would be at the end of the season.
     
He does have a point: the way Leverkusen have started the 2009/10 season - unbeaten in four games away from home including a 3-2 win at last year's champions Wolfsburg, and unbeaten in three at home, including a win over third-placed Hoffenheim - there are high hopes that the club could be in for a real improvement on their 9th-place showing last year.
      A thumping 5-0 victory away to Freiburg, who have since shown they are no pushovers, has only reinforced the good feeling.
      On Saturday Leverkusen beat FC Köln away by the only goal of the match and went three ponits clear at the top of the table until Hamburg won their later game against Bayern Munich.
     
This is a far cry from what the pundits were predicting for Heynckes' team at the start of the season - they were not seen as serious candidates to take what would be their first-ever Bundesliga title.
      Life in the town of just over 160,000 appeals to Hyypiä off the field as well as on.
      "I really like the vibe. I can live in peace and can walk on the street like everyone else."
     
Even though over the past few seasons at Liverpool Hyypiä had not been an automatic choice for the Premiership starting XI, many footballing experts believed in his chances of success in the Bundesliga.
      One of them was Jukka Vakkila, who knows the German game well. At one time Vakkila honed his coaching skills at the Sports Academy in Cologne.
      "I didn't doubt for a moment that Sami would pull it off. He's a pro's pro. I knew that if a guy of that class moved from Liverpool to the Bundesliga, he must have a huge motivation to succeed in his career in another big league environment", says Vakkila.
      Hyypiä begn his Finnish international career in the squad coached by Vakkila, back in 1992, at the age of just 19.
     
A good many Finnish footballers have found the going tough in Germany, and have wound up short of playing opportunities in the Bundesliga.
      They have dropped to the lower leagues or sought employment elsewhere.
      Vakkila notes that success in the German game requires a very strong character.
      "You have to have a very determined streak the whole time. A player must be ready to fight for his place, and hard."
     
Even though many Finns have failed to conquer German football, Vakkila believes that Hyypiä does not have to be a one-off exception.
      "It will be interesting to see how Jukka Raitala does after his move to Hoffenheim. I believe he has a very promising future."
      Raitala, who turned 21 a few weeks ago, is on loan to 1899 Hoffenheim from HJK Helsinki.
      The current arrangement is that he will be with the German club for the 2009/10 season, with an option to buy him after the loan ends. He usually plays at left-back, but can operate on the right or as a central defender.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.9.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Loyal Liverpool servant Hyypiä chooses Germany and Bayer Leverkusen (5.5.2009)

Links:
  Bundesliga - "Striving for that first championship"
  Bundesliga - "Fan of Rush, friend of Campino"
  Kicker: Top defenders in the Bundesliga (in German)
  Sami Hyypiä (Wikipedia)

TAPIO KESKITALO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.keskitalo@hs.fi