At the end of the evening, which was a very special one for Bremer SV, two very cheerful coaches sat at the compulsory press conference. They laughed and joked, and FC Bayern received an invitation for the next year, even though the Munich team wasn’t exactly squeamish with the amateur football team in their 12-0 win. So there wasn’t too much to analyze or interpret, it was the expected David versus Goliath duel – with the success for Goliath. But Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, who attested his team a “serious” performance overall, could not avoid issuing a special praise to one of his players when asked.
The offensive man Jamal Musiala is a very special 18-year-old, said Nagelsmann. Sometimes it even looks as if he has “built in magnets in his legs”.
Now it is not a particularly new finding that Musiala is a very special talent. It wasn’t until Sunday, in the 3-2 win against Cologne, that he danced back through the opposing defensive line and brought the decisive turn into the game. Of course, his dribbles do not hide the fact that Musiala is still almost a teenager, he cannot completely hide it himself. After the cup game in Bremen he stood in front of the television camera for an interview. Sometimes he couldn’t remember the German words, for example he said “new system” instead of “new tactics”. A small thing that might not really matter to a two-time goalscorer and a Bayern professional. Musiala, who grew up in England, looked a little embarrassed.
“That’s fine,” said Nagelsmann about the performance of four-time goalscorer Choupo-Moting
“We still have a lot of potential there,” said Nagelsmann – and did not mean Musiala’s German vocabulary, but his predicted development as a footballer. Nagelsmann, 34, knows, however, that he can already rely on the offensive man – whether teenagers or teenagers – even today. Against Bremen, Musiala scored three nice goals, two after a dribble and one with a big shot in the corner. Musiala is free of airs, flexible in use and surprisingly precocious in terms of performance, regardless of whether he comes from the bench or is in the starting XI. So he’s a pretty ideal footballer to mix up the Munich starting XI a bit, to give the team new impulses or to give more established players a break. In short: Musiala is currently a reliable player in the squad – and the lack of breadth in the team is an issue that has been preoccupying the Munich team for a long time and caused controversial debates on the management floor, at the end of which Hansi Flick became national coach and Nagelsmann came to Bayern.
A cup first-round match against a top division club is therefore a good opportunity to start a broad series of tests with players who are otherwise rarely in the starting line-up. Nagelsmann had already announced before the trip to Bremen that in Manuel Neuer, Leon Goretzka and Robert Lewandowski three recognized pillars would be spared. As expected, they replaced the barely busy Sven Ulreich in goal, Corentin Tolisso, who was once again more secure on the ball, in midfield and four-time goalscorer Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the storm. “That’s fine,” said Nagelsmann about Choupo-Moting’s performance, although there are few doubts about his suitability as a punctual replacement for Lewandowski in Munich.
Bayern sports director Salihamidzic does not rule out additions this summer
What was more of interest was how the full-backs Omar Richards and Bouna Sarr would present themselves, who had so far been rudimentary – and of course the appearance of attacker Leroy Sané, who is currently not one of the indisputable regulars and in the Bundesliga victory against Cologne was whistled by its own fans. They all played solidly, which is of course not very meaningful if they beat a league club. But even in Bremen’s Weserstadion, where the game was played, isolated whistles could be heard among the approximately 10,000 spectators when Sané was replaced after a goal and two assists in the 67th minute. But could also have been from Bremen.
Nagelsmann did not mention the expressions of displeasure towards his attacker, possibly in order not to make the topic bigger than it already is. In return, the coach let it be known that he would by no means defend himself against reinforcements. “If everyone is healthy, we have everything under control,” said Nagelsmann: “If we have injuries, it becomes thin.” Bayern’s defenders Benjamin Pavard, Alphonso Davies, Lucas Hernandez and midfielder Marc Roca are injured, which greatly limits Nagelsmann’s options. “If something arises, we are there,” said Bayern sports director Salihamidzic on the streaming service Dazn about possible accesses. The transfer window is still open until August 31, the last time speculation was about the obligations of Leipzig’s midfield motor Marcel Sabitzer and Gladbach’s endurance runner Jonas Hofmann.
But it seems certain: footballers with magnets in their legs are unlikely to join Bayern this year.