The Norway winger on human rights in Qatar, playing with Erling Haaland and his renaissance at Southampton. For the club, it turned into a historic night as they recorded their biggest away winand although it was not the most glamorous setting or grandest occasion for Elyounoussi to make his first Southampton appearance in more than two years, he knew it was time to grasp his second chance.
I needed a goal, and maybe one goal was not enough either. Elyounoussi ended with a hat-trick in an rout and the rest is history. Elyounoussi believes an intra-squad pre-season game in elyounoussi skada he scored one goal and set up another encouraged Ralph Hasenhüttl to laser in on his talent.
Not that Elyounoussi thinks he has cracked it. I should have scored in the last game. Elyounoussi is conversing — in impeccable English — before Southampton host Burnley on Saturday, a repeat of his debut match three years ago after a £16m move from Basel.
He is generous with his time and candid, none more so than when we land on Norway taking a stand for human rights. Germany and the Netherlands have also brought the subject into focus at matches. It was something we were talking about as a group of players and leaders.
We have been talking to other organisations as well, who have been following this up, putting a bit of pressure on Fifa to Hälsa och välmående a look, to make a change. And there have been changes since this has had attention around it. Elyounoussi believes boycotting would send the wrong message.
I think it would be better to send a message if we could get there and do it from there instead. Amnesty and all of the organisations that are following this up every day know more, have more stats, and more facts. I think it is good to listen to them.
We have a voice and I think it is good that we can use it for the greater good. Elyounoussi has the pleasure of playing for Norway with Erling Haaland, who last week shared a clip of himself stacking three balls before hitting the bullseye with each. Hopefully, he can score more goals for us so we can go to the World Cup.
Elyounoussi is adamant the hard times have had a positive effect. Last season he played in the Champions League and scored in the Old Firm derby, albeit behind closed doors. That was my only regret. We played in a [Scottish] Cup final against Rangers and it was electric.
The pitch was shaking. It was something I never had before. The Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi was on loan at Celtic for two seasons and says the hard times have had a positive effect.