TV expert Lothar Matthäus has defended Bayern Munich’s offensive player Jamal Musiala against criticism from his colleague Dietmar Hamann. “Musiala plays and works for the team. He is not at all selfish, he counter-presses and when he has the ball, he puts his teammates in the spotlight when it is possible and makes sense,” the 1990 World Champion told “Bild” about the 21-year-old.
Musiala is “not a solo entertainer,” says Matthäus. “Absolutely not. If he has to go one-on-one, he does it. But he sees the free teammate just as well.” Hamann is someone who likes to swim against the tide with his opinion and often does so. “I see it completely differently.”
Hamann would swap Wirtz for Musiala
Hamann had previously compared Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz and Musiala in his Sky column after the German national team’s international matches. The Munich team had mostly been dependent on individual actions in recent years, wrote the 51-year-old former Bayern professional.
“That also has something to do with Musiala. Apart from him, there is hardly a player in world football at number ten who is a pure one-on-one player. The flow of the game suffers as a result,” explained Hamann. “Musiala is more of a solo player and often a solo entertainer. If he gets the ball ten times, he puts his head down nine times and starts dribbling.”
Hamann believes that Wirtz makes his teammates better. “If I could swap Wirtz and Musiala from Bayern’s point of view, I would do it tomorrow.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240913-930-231259/1
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
