Emmanuel Latte Lath's Messi journey to Berlin

Analysis

Ronan Murphy | Social Media

Emmanuel Latte Lath has had a very varied career already at just 27. The Ivory Coast international striker is already at his 12th club, in his eighth different league or division and has played against some of the best players in the world.

When he was on the books of Serie A side Atalanta, he was loaned out eight times in seven seasons to the Italian lower divisions as well as the Swiss Super League, so he knew he had to move on to find a proper home. At Middlesbrough, he flourished under Michael Carrick, and two seasons' worth of Championship goalscoring saw him move to MLS to join Atlanta United in a then-league-record deal.

There, he twice played against Lionel Messi, seeing the world's greatest player score in both games, and now finds himself on loan again, this time with Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, where Harry Kane is the latest enemy at the other end of the pitch.

At Atlanta, he found himself carried along by the Messi mania or the Messi madness that is everywhere in MLS.

"It was crazy for me to to play against him," Latte Lath explains. "Playing against him was something special, you see on TV the things he does, and then when you see him in reality, I was like a kid when you see your hero. It was unbelievable, I will never believe it, I could touch Messi."

From Messi to Kane

Now, the intensity of the Bundesliga offers him something different, especially at Union Berlin, the only team from the pre-German Reunification East playing in the top flight. Union is a club of the people with a compact stadium where the fans feed into each and every home game.

"The fans help us when we play at home, and you try to win points," he continued. "But when people come here, especially, it is always difficult because the fans are so close to us and this makes a big, big difference."

Union's home form has seen them pick up points against both Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund, with Latte Lath scoring his first goal for the club in the 3-3 draw against Eintracht. A trip to Bavaria was a much more chastening experience as Bayern Munich won 7-0 with Kane scoring twice and Michael Olise bagging a hat-trick. This was disappointing for Latte Lath, but he hopes that even in defeats like this, he can take something from his opposite number, especially someone like Ballon d'Or-favourite Kane.

"Of course when you play against them and lose, you're not happy," he admits. "In the end, football is also a journey of learning things. So as a striker, I always try to steal something from them: maybe some movement or some action, or to see how they think in some pressurised situation. It's good to play against them, but it's also with them because you try to take things or learn things from them."

Latte Lath has learned a lot on his travels, and anyone who has lived and played in Berlin will confirm it is definitely a learning experience and one worth having. The forward has already played against Messi and Kane and hopefully by watching closely, he can steal a little more for his game and keep firing for Union Berlin.