'The Swiss Messi': Amdouni preparing to face off with his idol in quarter-finals

[p][b]"I'm going to play against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Messi[/a]. Wallah, that's it, I could quit football now."[/b] The message, posted on Snapchat in the privacy of the Swiss dressing room after qualifying against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/colombia/G02s4PCS/"]Colombia[/a], sums up nearly 20 years of fascination.[/p][p]On Saturday in Kansas City, [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/amdouni-mohamed/4xAOYC7g/"]Zeki Amdouni[/a][/b] will face, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/argentina-f9OppQjp/switzerland-rHJ2vy1B/?mid=Wv4IS6zg"]in the World Cup quarter-finals[/a], the man who shaped his footballing destiny: Lionel Messi.[/p][p]This post, half-serious and half-ironic, reveals a long-standing and genuine admiration. Asked by [i]Blick[/i] last January about his role model, the Geneva striker recalled the turning point in his teenage years.[/p][p]As a child, he idolised Cristiano Ronaldo, [b]"for his hairstyle, his boots, his style."[/b][/p][p]Then, at 13, everything changed: [b]"When I really understood football, there was only one player for me: Lionel Messi."[/b][/p][p]When asked if he could ever meet his idol at a World Cup, he replied without hesitation: [b]"That would be a dream."[/b][/p][embed guid="93b87f06-2dc5-4ba7-8234-39ec0ff400d8" url="https://x.com/okaformidable/status/2074656092022251542?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]That dream, which once seemed so distant, is now about to come true. After [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/colombia-G02s4PCS/switzerland-rHJ2vy1B/?mid=EmgOlMbT"]the penalty shootout win over Colombia,[/a] his emotion was clear in his reaction on [i]RTS[/i].[/p][p][b]"It's a dream to play against him," [/b]Amdouni said.[/p][p]However, the Snapchat message didn't please everyone. Some Swiss fans felt it was inappropriate ahead of a World Cup quarter-final, believing such enthusiasm for the opposition was out of place at this stage of the competition.[/p][p]Amdouni was quick to reassure Nati supporters in the comments, promising to show [b]"zero mercy"[/b] to Messi and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a] when the time comes.[/p][h2]The 'Swiss Messi'[/h2][p]This open fascination is more than just a footnote: from the start of his professional career, it has fuelled a comparison that has stuck with Amdouni. In 2023, the analytics firm [i]StatsBomb[/i] searched for the European players under 24 statistically closest to Messi.[/p][p]Two names stood out: Xavi Simons, a product of La Masia, and Amdouni, then at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/basel/S8MBgwuo/"]Basel[/a]. When he moved to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/burnley/z3dmTMMO/"]Burnley[/a] the following summer, Spanish newspaper [i]Marca[/i] picked up the label in a now-famous headline: [b]"Burnley sign the Swiss Messi."[/b][/p][p]A comparison that would have seemed absurd just four years earlier, when Amdouni was still playing in the Swiss fourth division.[/p][embed guid="88c9ccab-f21b-4cdb-8f4a-bc20e33b5b8b" url="https://x.com/Statsbomb/status/1679068145452032000?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]What justifies the comparison, beyond the stats, is a recognisable playing style: a technical false nine, more focused on build-up play and the final pass than on physicality.[/p][p][b]"[/b][b]As a kid, I was always a striker because I was a good finisher, but I was never the big centre-forward who only touches the ball five times a half,"[/b] he told UEFA.com.[/p][p][b]"I've always been a technical player. I like to be involved in the play, to be on the ball and to provide assists. That's still what I do, but now, if I can score myself, even better."[/b][/p][p]Vincent Kompany, who brought him to Burnley from Basel for around £15 million, described him on arrival as a complete player.[/p][p][b]"He's a great talent we've been following for a long time. He's a real attacking threat: he has quality in the final pass and can score himself. He's a very intelligent player, technically gifted and works extremely hard."[/b][/p][p]Behind the flattering label, Amdouni's journey is that of a street footballer, shaped far from traditional academies. Born in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, just over the border in France, to a Turkish father who ran a kiosk near the Geneva hospital and a Tunisian mother, he grew up in modest family circumstances.[/p][p]At 13, a serious foot injury forced him out of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/servette/Ov2LFx62/"]Servette[/a], his boyhood club.[/p][p][b]"They told me at first they wouldn't kick anyone out for being injured. But I still had to leave,"[/b] he recalled, the wound still raw years later. [/p][p][b]"My family wanted me to keep studying, but in the end, they accepted my decision."[/b][/p][image alt="Amdouni's career stats" id="e51103e1-9100-466a-98d7-4d8a9ae1304d" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="55036ba7-3558-4f8f-8d3c-e223dcb33f09" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][h2]Cruciate ligament rupture and World Cup doubts[/h2][p]He bounced back at Meyrin FC, spending two seasons there before joining the youth teams of Etoile Carouge, a Swiss fourth division club, at 15, where he was spotted by Jean-Michel Aeby, then first-team coach in the 1st league and looking for attacking reinforcements.[/p][p]He made his first-team debut in November 2017, aged 16, and never looked back.[/p][p][b]"He has incredible quality, he's an almost complete footballer. He's good with both feet, good in the air, a great link-up player, a real team man,"[/b] enthused Aeby, who also highlighted his temperament.[/p][p][b]"Zeki is quite reserved, very discreet, but that's a strength, because he doesn't get rattled even in the most heated situations."[/b][/p][p]In June 2021, the young Geneva talent signed for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lausanne/Wd10iFbk/"]FC Lausanne-Sport[/a]. Servette, his formative club, would have loved to bring back their prodigal son, but Amdouni chose to join their local rivals, where he scored his first career hat-trick against the Grenat.[/p][p]Next stop was Basel, where he exploded in the 2022/23 season: 22 goals and five assists in 52 matches, and top scorer in the Conference League.[/p][p]This rapid rise took him to Burnley, but his progress was abruptly halted in summer 2025 by a ruptured cruciate ligament in his right knee, during pre-season, just after returning from a successful loan at Benfica, where he had scored nine goals.[/p][image alt="Win probability" id="336fe432-cb27-459c-8be6-8b76ad3c0ee4" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="6e5300ba-ea14-47a5-8f77-acf6a896a5df" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]It was a tough blow for Murat Yakin, who had made him a starter after EURO 2024, but the coach never lost touch: he visited him in England and invited him to the March training camp in Basel, even though Amdouni was not yet fit.[/p][p][b]"Of course, the World Cup was always at the back of my mind, but after such an injury, nine months out, my priority was just to get back on the pitch,"[/b] he told Keystone-ATS.[/p][p]He had to wait until May for his return to the Premier League. A few substitute appearances were enough to convince Yakin to take him to North America.[/p][p]The gamble paid off. Coming on in the 103rd minute of the last-16 match against Colombia, Amdouni coolly converted his penalty in the decisive shootout (4-3), alongside Granit Xhaka, Cedric Itten and Ruben Vargas, with only Manuel Akanji missing his attempt.[/p][p]He explained his method openly to RTS: [b]"It's a situation where I feel comfortable. I already showed it at the Euros."[/b] He waits until the last moment, watches the keeper, and shoots the other way.[/p][p]That execution sent [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/switzerland/rHJ2vy1B/"]Switzerland[/a] into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1954, the year they hosted the tournament, and gave him, at last, the moment he had dreamed of since childhood.[/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]