Joshua Zirkzee opened his eyes wide, it was a moment of overwhelming surprise for him, you could quickly see that the FC Bayern Munich striker late on Saturday afternoon. And the look was justified at this moment just before half-time: the attacker who had returned from an unfortunate loan from Parma had just fought for the ball in the opponent’s penalty area, he served in front of Amsterdam goalkeeper Remko Pasveer and passed him exemplary . But then he forgot to shoot the ball into the goal to lead. Zirkzee trotted towards the goal, the fans screamed their goal scream, but Perr Schuurs grabbed the ball from his Dutch compatriot a meter in front of the line.
“I think in the Bundesliga game he will hopefully have a little more seriousness in the scene,” commented his coach Julian Nagelsmann on the scene after the game on RTL. “He knows that himself, that he has to do it.” Schuurs’ action left both surprise and disappointment in Zirkzee’s face. Because there were again 8,500 spectators in the Fröttmaninger Arena. A fact that the second-hand dealer Zirkzee would have liked to change at that moment.
Otherwise, the audience got to see a lively summer kick. For the first time, the Bayern players wore the new red home jersey, which now groups five gold stars above the club’s emblem – for the 30 championships since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963. There were a few fewer stars on the lawn: around the Dayot central defender Upamecano and the Robert Lewandowski back-up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were mainly talents like Josip Stanisic or Thorben Rhein as well as loan returnees like Zirkzee or Mickael Cuisance.
The five-star championship squad is still a bit orphaned because of the absent EM drivers, which makes the initial preparation for the coach Nagelsmann, who is hired from Leipzig, quite difficult. Without his exceptional players, the game against Ajax Amsterdam ended 2-2 (1-1). “Overall, considering the squad, I really liked it,” said Nagelsmann. The draw almost three weeks before the start of the Bundesliga was a respectable success against the Dutch champions, who were stronger on Saturday and who are being trained by former Munich second-team coach (and probably also first-team coach candidate) Erik ten Hag.
Perhaps that’s why Nagelsmann reacted with great serenity to the insults from a few fans. “Not everyone has to applaud that I was with the city rivals,” he said. A group of no more than 20 supporters in the south curve behind the fan club banner “Munich’s Red Pride” and a lion from 1860 Munich in the crosshairs shouted several times: “Nagelsmann, you pig, back to TSV!” The former Leipzig player was a player (2002 to 2007) and youth coach (2008 to 2010) at sixty, but is considered a Bayern fan. “I know the rivalries in the city and in football, but I’m not very fond of rivalries.”
At the beginning of the week, coach Nagelsmann expects nine national players back
On the pitch, Ajax got off to a much stronger start – and came up with some chances early on, but only one of them was used: After a mistake by FCB goalkeeper Sven Ulreich in the build-up of the game, Zakaria Labyad met after a combination over Dusan Tadic and the former Frankfurt Sebastien Haller for the tour (10th minute). Only after half an hour did Bayern have opportunities. Rhein checked Pasveer (37th), then Choupo-Moting hit after a flat cross from right-back Bouna Sarr, who appeared as an exception at the front left, to 1: 1 (40th) – and then Zirkzee made the aforementioned lapse.
Bayern also took their momentum into the second half – Upamecano headed the crossbar, but on the next cross from Rhein, his defensive colleague Tanguy Nianzou, with whom Nagelsmann was expressly satisfied, did better and hit a diving header for the interim lead ( 48.). In return, however, Victor Jensen scored the 2-2 (50th). After 60 minutes, Nagelsmann changed the pulse of the game a little with a total of ten changes. Now before Ulreich there were mainly footballers from the second team, “that was a better A-youth,” said the goalkeeper. “I think the guys all did very well and the 2-2 was deserved in the end.”
Above all, his coach will now be happy that a large number of his EM drivers are returning. During the “English test week”, in which home games against Borussia Mönchengladbach (Wednesday) and SSC Napoli (Saturday) are pending, he may be able to send a possible Bundesliga starting eleven onto the field for at least part of the respective season. Because on his 34th birthday on Friday, Nagelsmann was able to welcome Serge Gnabry as a small training gift. Nine more national players are expected on Monday, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich will follow on Saturday.
Müller published a picture of the beach on the Instagram social network on Friday. You can see on it: his blue toenails. “I have to go to the nail man urgently,” he wrote. He was sure to get a laugh from some colleagues in the comments. Among other things, the Zirkzee scene also showed: Not only the blue miller nails need the nail man – the nail man can also use the miller.