Signed last May after impressing Dortmund officials in a trial, Shinji Kagawa has already won a place in the first team.

He scored twice last month in a 3-1 Bundesliga victory over rivals Schalke and seems bound to follow in the steps of South Korean Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United) and Japanese forward
Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow) as Asian players who haveattained success with major European clubs.

"We knew that Shinji Kagawa was a really good footballer," says Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp. "We did not know that he would adjust this quickly. The boy is 21, he's left his family at home and his only companion is his translator. Now he has written his name into the history books."

Kagawa has also scored in the Europa League, and gets another chance to impress Thursday when Dortmund hosts Sevilla.