BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin is hoping Karim Adeyemi’s starring performance against Celtic in the Champions League is just a harbinger of what’s to come from the player.
The 22-year-old Adeyemi scored a hat trick and might have scored more in Dortmund’s 7-1 win on Tuesday. Sahin wants to see it on a consistent basis.
“What Karim has, the whole package, is so good, but together we have to see that we get that on the field every three days, in every training session,” Sahin said.
Adeyemi has struggled for consistency since arriving in Dortmund from Salzburg in 2022. Last season he scored three goals in 21 Bundesliga appearances and two as Dortmund reached the Champions League final. This season he already looks like a transformed player.
Adeyemi has scored two and set up three more in Dortmund’s five Bundesliga games, while he already eclipsed last season’s mark in the Champions League on Tuesday. Adeyemi was also fouled for a penalty converted by Serhou Guirassy.
“Wingers and attacking players are going to score goals and that’s how they’re measured,” Sahin said. “But what impressed me today was the work against the ball, that’s the benchmark for Karim, how I measure him.”
Adeyemi also earned praise from Dortmund captain Emre Can.
“He played brilliantly, not just today, but also the last weeks,” Can said. “He’s playing with more maturity, with more determination. That’s the requirement.”
Adeyemi’s next chance to impress comes at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Saturday — if he overcomes a right thigh injury that forced him from the field early in the second half on Tuesday. He has been set back by thigh injuries before.
“I hope it’s not so serious and that I’m back soon,” Adeyemi said. “It didn’t feel so bad today, I’m positive.”
Adeyemi was not included on Thursday in the Germany squad for Nations League games against Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Netherlands, though he scored five for the under-21 team in September.
“I haven’t always had the best first halves of the season,” Adeyemi told reporters after the Celtic game. “Now things are different and, I’m trying to not just help the team in the second half of the season, but also in the first half. That’s why I don’t want to rest on my laurels.”
After Union on Saturday and the international break, the Bundesliga resumes for Dortmund on Oct. 18 against St. Pauli followed by a visit to defending champion Real Madrid in the Champions League.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi, second left, celebrates with Serhou Guirassy, after scoring his side's fifth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic FC at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi celebrates with the fans his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic FC at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi applauds the fans as he leaves the pitch after an injuring during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic FC at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The speaker of the Georgian parliament signed into a law Thursday a bill that severely curtails LGBTQ+ rights in the country and mirrors legislation adopted in neighboring Russia.
Shalva Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said on social media that the legislation does “not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.”
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had refused to sign the bill and returned it to parliament on Wednesday. It was introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party and approved by lawmakers last month.
The bill includes bans on same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relations and people in the media. It also bans gender-affirming care and changing gender designations in official documents.
"This law protects the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression, so that the rights of others are not violated, which is the essence and idea of true democracy,” Papuashvili wrote.
Parliament gave the legislation its final approval as Georgia, a largely conservative country where the Orthodox Church wields significant influence, prepares to vote in a parliamentary election. The law has been widely seen as an effort by the governing party to shore up support among conservative groups. It was decried by human rights advocates and LGBTQ+ activists, who said it further marginalized an already vulnerable community.
By signing the law, Georgian Dream “have taken homophobia to a new level, and that is political and institutional homophobia,” said Ana Tavadze, an activist with Tbilisi Pride, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Georgian Dream's aim is to “fabricate” problems ahead of the election to distract people from “their failure” to solve issues involving unemployment, education and healthcare, Tavadze told The Associated Press.
The law has drawn comparisons with Russia, where the Kremlin has been highlighting what it calls traditional family values. Russian authorities in the last decade have banned public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” and introduced laws against gender-affirming care, among other measures. Its Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what the authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banning it.
In Georgia, the LGBTQ+ community has struggled even before the legislation was introduced. Demonstrations and violent outbursts against LGBTQ+ people have been common, and last year hundreds of opponents of gay rights stormed an LGBTQ+ festival in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, forcing the event’s cancellation. This year, tens of thousands marched in Tbilisi to promote “traditional family values.”
A day after parliament gave its final approval to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, transgender actor and model Kesaria Avramidze was stabbed to death in her apartment in Tbilisi. Rights advocates had worried that the bill would stoke more violence.
Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said that by not signing the bill, President Zourabichvili and the Georgian opposition “did not have enough courage to openly express their opinion regarding this law.”
Some analysts say parts of the Georgian opposition are walking a fine line ahead of the Oct. 26 election between condemning the move to curtail LGBTQ+ rights and not wanting to alienate some voters.
Zourabichvili has long been at odds with the governing party and vetoed a “foreign influence” law adopted by parliament earlier this year. She was overridden by parliament, where Georgian Dream dominates.
The measure requires media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. It ignited weeks of protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms. Those opposing the law compared it to similar legislation in Russia which is routinely used to suppress dissent, and accused the governing party of acting in concert with Moscow, jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.
The South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million formally applied to join the EU in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the bloc halted its accession in response to the “foreign influence” law and froze some of its financial support. The United States imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials in response to the law.
Georgian Dream was set up by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and served briefly as Georgia’s prime minister in 2012. It promised to restore civil rights and “reset” relations with Moscow, which fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and established military bases there.
Many Georgians backed Ukraine as Kyiv battled Russia’s invasion in 2022. But the Georgian government abstained from joining sanctions against Moscow, barred dozens of Kremlin critics from entering the country, and accused the West of trying to drag Georgia into open conflict with Russia. The opposition has accused the governing party of steering the country into Russia’s orbit to the detriment of its European aspirations.
FILE - Georgian far right parties and their supporters hold a banner that reads: "No to LGBT darkness," in front of the parliament during a rally against Pride Week in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov, File)
A portrait of Kesaria Abramidze, a transgender actor and model who was stabbed to death, is displayed at a vigil near parliament in Tbilisi, Georgia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Sophiko Megrelidze)
FILE - A Georgian Orthodox Church clergyman attends a celebration of the Day of Family Purity in the conservative country where animosity toward LGBTQ+ people is strong, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze, File)
