The Bayern coach “must be careful”: the 17-year-old rookie impressed Flick hard

Wednesday 2 December 2020

To give his stars a break, Bayern manager Hansi Flick relies on offspring in the Champions League. And the young people are convincing, especially 17-year-old Jamal Musiala. Although Monaco’s winning streak has come to an end, Flick has gained more of this insight.

Hansi Flick found it difficult. “I have to be careful,” said the Bayern Munich manager when asked about Jamal Musiala after 1: 1 (0: 1) at Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, after all the youngster was only 17 years old. Praising a footballer too much at this early age can backfire. Flick did it anyway. The England junior international was “highly regarded” by the stars, Flick said and also explained the reason: “Because he is extremely calm on the ball, he dribbles a lot and is hard to stop in one-on-one.” Musiala “must improve physically, we are working on it. But what we see in purely football terms, Bayern can be very satisfied.”

Musiala was the best of two 17-year-olds in Bayern’s first premier-class draw after 15 wins. With fellow pro rookie Bright Arrey-Mbi, Flick showed mercy. The German junior international is a “trained central defender” and has had a hard time outside in the five-man chain: “He did his job, we are happy with it.” In principle, all his boys would have “done well, some a little more, Jamal for example”, others a little less. Angelo Stiller, 19, replaced by Musiala, “distributed the balls well and implemented what we specified”. Chris Richards and Joshua Zirkzee, both 20 years old, also came off the bench.

And so Flick didn’t care a bit about the end of the Champions League winning streak. The FC Bayern manager rated Joker Thomas Müller’s final penalty draw as a “night of success” for the defending champions, who had already been group winners. After all, the Munich team hadn’t lost after 15 consecutive wins.

Sané hasn’t arrived yet

And Flick had gotten pretty much everything he’d hoped for on the mild Spanish night before: prior to Saturday’s flagship Bundesliga match against RB Leipzig, he was able to spare numerous highly stressed top workers like goalkeeper Manuel Neuer or top scorer. Robert Lewandowski, but different talents Try it on the international stage and gain valuable knowledge for the future.

“I am very happy so far,” said Flick. He was also glad that there were no more injuries. Atlético took the lead thanks to young star João Félix, which cost more than 100 million euros. But after the well-deserved break after the break, the guests fought for a point with two great performers who had been replaced after an hour. “With Thomas Müller we had a slightly more dynamic game, also through Serge Gnabry,” Flick praised the forwards.

Müller and Gnabry triggered exactly the momentum that Leroy Sané and Douglas Costa did not provide. Sane, who joined Manchester City in the summer, lets his class flash again and again but fails to carry it consistently. And so Müller cleverly eliminated the penalty, which he converted himself. It was his first Champions League penalty since 2015. “It was a fight, we got our teeth into the game,” said Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who was allowed to act as a forward for the Robert Lewandowski on hiatus – without much effect. It was a great football evening in the empty Atlético stadium for several Munich talents.

“The youngsters did a good job,” Flick said of the performance of newcomer Bright Arrey-Mbi and substitutes Angelo Stiller, Joshua Zirkzee and Chris Richards. Musiala, already established in the professional squad, was particularly notable in midfield. “I loved Jamal,” said Flick: “We’ve seen a lot that makes us happy for the future.” Against Leipzig, however, they will return to being the first stars.