Aleksandar Pavlovic (20) is the shooting star at FC Bayern and will be representing Germany at the home European Championships in June. Who is responsible for this?
Career leap: Aleksandar Pavlovic is even in the European Championship squad. IMAGO/Sven Simon
Even a season without a title can have a few bright moments, even at FC Bayern. For example, FC Bayern once again has a top goalscorer like Harry Kane. He only missed the Champions League final because of a rebounded shot. And he has Aleksandar Pavlovic, a homegrown player who has asserted himself and is firmly at the top.
Because Joao Palhinha flew to Munich in the summer and had to fly back to London sooner than planned, coach Thomas Tuchel was left without the desired new addition in the defensive midfield. Then Leon Goretzka broke his metacarpal, Konrad Laimer injured his calf, Joshua Kimmich was briefly out of action due to a red card and has actually been back at right-back for a long time.
Pavlovic took advantage of the vacancies, made his debut in the 8-0 win against Darmstadt in the fall, collected his first assist as a substitute seven days later in the 4-0 win in Dortmund and scored his first in January in the 3-2 win in Augsburg and the 3-1 win against Gladbach Bayern’s goal.
Would things have gotten that far with Palhinha? Idle, Pavlovic has distinguished himself as a confident, strong and self-confident six and has now even secured a place in the German European Championship squad ahead of his teammate Leon Goretzka.
Tuchel jokes: “We couldn’t prevent the nomination”
The current Munich coach was asked on Friday whether Tuchel, who is leaving Bayern in the summer, sees Pavlovic “a little bit” as his legacy to the club. Tuchel was amazed, pulled up the corners of his mouth, answered the question and snorted: “Some say this, others say that.” He laughed, and the reporters laughed too. Because everyone understood the humorous tip against Uli Hoeneß. “We couldn’t prevent the nomination,” Tuchel added again and laughed again.
In April, a few days before the semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, Honorary President Hoeneß spoke at a panel discussion Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said about Tuchel. “He doesn’t mean that you can improve Pavlovic, who can improve Davies. But if things don’t go any further, then we’ll buy. And that can’t be the solution.”
Tuchel reacted immediately and clearly, this time he left it with two laughs and then continued “seriously”: “That’s of course sensational,” he said about Pavlovic. “It’s just a joy to see the boy play football.”
“It’s a pleasure to see this development”
Around 13 months ago, when Tuchel and his coaching team started at FC Bayern in the midst of numerous English weeks, the then unknown regional league player Pavlovic was allowed to take part in the players’ substitute training after match days in order to increase the squad. “From the first training session we thought we saw something special in the boy,” says Tuchel happily. “He was extremely confident on the ball and, what was actually the best thing about it, very self-confident. Not in an arrogant way, he was self-confident because of the way he played football. He just wants to have every ball, he offers himself in the gap, he offers himself even after a mistake. That’s how he sees himself.”
In addition, Tuchel added, “he was incredibly nice and to this day always comes to training with a big smile. It’s a joy to see this development. The greatest praise goes to himself.” So not the coach or explorer Tuchel. “Of course, that has developed with the nomination for the home European Championships – none of us would have expected that, but he absolutely deserves it. So a big compliment. I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t begrudge him that. ” Especially not Hoeneß.
2024-05-17 14:05:08
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