Michael Lang (footballer, born 1991)

Michael Rico Lang (born 8 February 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for German club SV Werder Bremen, on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach, and the Switzerland national team.

For the Austrian defender, see Michael Lang (footballer, born 1998).

Michael Lang
Personal information
Full name Michael Rico Lang[1]
Date of birth (1991-02-08) 8 February 1991
Place of birth Egnach, Switzerland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Werder Bremen
(on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Number 4
Youth career
2000–2006 St. Gallen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2011 St. Gallen 57 (3)
2011–2015 Grasshopper 127 (12)
2015–2018 Basel 87 (16)
2018– Borussia Mönchengladbach 17 (1)
2019– → Werder Bremen (loan) 9 (0)
National team‡
2005–2007 Switzerland U-16 11 (1)
2007–2008 Switzerland U-17 19 (2)
2008–2009 Switzerland U-18 7 (0)
2009–2010 Switzerland U-19 16 (3)
2010–2012 Switzerland U-20 11 (3)
2013– Switzerland 31 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:45, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:01, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Club career

St. Gallen, Grasshopper

Lang began his professional career at FC St. Gallen in the Swiss Super League. He played his first league match at age 16, making him one of the youngest debut players in the Swiss Football League. In the summer 2011 he signed a four-year contract with Grasshopper Club Zürich, the Swiss record football champion. In the 2012–13 season he won the Swiss Cup with the club in the final against FC Basel. The Grasshopper club played two years in a row the qualification for the Champions League. But they lost their games against Olympique Lyon (2013) and OSC Lille (2014).

Basel

On 1 June 2015, Lang joined Basel on a free transfer.[3] He made his first team league debut on 19 July 2015 in the 2–0 home win against Vaduz.[4] He scored his first goal for his new club just one week later on 25 July during the away game against his old club Grasshopper Club. It was the last goal of the game and Basel won 3–2.[5] Under trainer Urs Fischer Lang won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season[6] and again at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total.[7] They also won the Swiss Cup for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history.[8]

Lang scored his first Champions League goal in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage home game on 27 September against Benfica. It was the first goal of the game that Basel won 5–0.[9] Following this, on 22 November, in the home game against Manchester United he scored the winning goal in the 89th minute as Basel won 1–0.[10] In the knockout phase, when playing Manchester City, Lang again scored the winning goal in the 71st minute as Basel won 2–1 and ended a 15-month unbeaten home run of their opponent.[11]

Borussia Mönchengladbach

In June 2018, Lang joined Borussia Mönchengladbach for the 2018–19 season having agreed a four-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Basel was reported as €2.8 million.[12]

On 29 August 2019, Lang joined SV Werder Bremen on a season-long loan deal for the 2019–20 Bundesliga season with an option to buy included.[13]

International career

Lang made his first senior international appearance for Switzerland on 14 August 2013 in the friendly against Brazil.[14] He came on as a second-half substitute for Stephan Lichtsteiner as the team won 1–0 at St. Jakob-Park.[14] He scored his first goal in his second appearance later on 11 October in the 2–1 win against Albania in match 9 of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification Group E; this win clinched Switzerland's place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[15]

Lang was called by manager Ottmar Hitzfeld in the squad of 23 players for the final tournament.[16] He played his first and only match of the campaign in the final Group E game against Honduras, entering in the final 13 minutes.[17] Switzerland was eventually knocked out of the tournament by Argentina in the round of 16.[18]

He was included in Switzerland's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[19] He was sent off in Switzerland's 1–0 defeat to Sweden in the round of 16.

Career statistics

Club
As of 1 July 2019[20]
Club statistics
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
St. Gallen 2009–10 Swiss Super League 22121—242
2010–11 31210—322
Total 53331—564
Grasshopper 2011–12 Swiss Super League 26120—281
2012–13 33330—383
2013–14 343314[lower-alpha 1]0414
2014–15 355304[lower-alpha 2]1426
Total 128121118114714
Basel 2015–16 Swiss Super League 2251014[lower-alpha 3]2377
2016–17 316435[lower-alpha 4]0409
2017–18 345228[lower-alpha 4]34410
Total 87167527512126
Borussia Mönchengladbach 2018–19 Bundesliga 17110—181
Career total 2843322735634146
  1. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, two in UEFA Europa League
  2. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  3. Four appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, ten appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  4. All appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League

International
As of 18 November 2019[21]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Switzerland 201341
201440
201551
201670
201710
201891
201910
Total313

International goals
As of 15 October 2018. Switzerland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lang goal.[21]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 October 2013Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania2 Albania2–02–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 9 October 2015AFG Arena, St. Gallen, Switzerland10 San Marino1–07–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
3 15 October 2018Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland29 Iceland2–02–12018–19 UEFA Nations League A

Honours

Grasshopper

Basel

References
  1. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 11 June 2014. p. 30. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  3. "FCB verpflichtet Nationalspieler Michael Lang". FC Basel. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  4. Marti, Caspar (2015). "Auftakt geglückt – 2:0 Sieg gegen den FC Vaduz". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  5. Marti, Caspar (2015). "Der FCB gewinnt bei GC ein unterhaltsames Spiel mit 3:2". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  6. Marti, Casper (2016). "Es ist vollbracht ! Der FCB ist zum 19. Mal Meister". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  7. Marti, Casper (2017). "Der Saisonabschluss im Zeitraffer". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  8. "Swiss football: FC Basel wins 3-0 over Sion in Geneva; police extra vigilant after game and also scored the winning goal against Manchester united". allaboutgeneva.com. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  9. FC Basel 1893 (2017). "5:0 – ein entfesselter FCB landet gegen Benfica einen Kantersieg". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  10. FC Basel 1893 (2017). "Grandios! Lang schiesst den FCB in letzter Minute zum Sieg". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  11. UEFA (2018). "City ease through but Basel loss mutes celebrations". UEFA. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  12. ""Schnäppchen" Lang unterschreibt bis 2022 in Gladbach". kicker Online (in German). 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  13. "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  14. "Switzerland 1-0 Brazil: Alves own goal hands Hitzfeld's men famous win". Goal.com. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  15. "World Cup qualifier: Switzerland book World Cup spot with 2-1 win over Albania". Sky Sports. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  16. "World Cup 2014: Pajtim Kasami on standby for Switzerland". BBC Sport. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  17. Alan Smith (25 June 2014). "Switzerland ease past Honduras courtesy of Xherdan Shaqiri hat-trick". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  18. Ian Herbert (1 July 2014). "Argentina vs Switzerland match report World Cup 2014: Angel di Maria leaves it late to breach the Swiss red wall". Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  19. "Switzerland opts for experience in World Cup squad". Washington Post. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  20. Michael Lang at Soccerway. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  21. "Michael Lang – National Football Team Player". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  22. "Swiss football: FC Basel wins 3-0 over Sion in Geneva; police extra vigilant after game". allaboutgeneva.com. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
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