As of: March 7, 2024, 11:12 p.m
By: Marius Epp
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FC Bayern's midfield boss is currently not Joshua Kimmich, not Leon Goretzka - but a 19-year-old.
Does Aleksandar Pavlovic have to go to the European Championships?
Munich - In what was probably his most important game of the season for FC Bayern so far, Thomas Tuchel surprised with a tactical trick: Leon Goretzka suddenly played third defender alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Eric Dier when he had the ball against Lazio Rome.
In front of the defense, a youngster should sort things out on his own - and Aleksandar Pavlovic (
tz
grade 2) impressively demonstrated that he has the "balls" that Thomas Müller recently demanded.
“I’m never really nervous,” said the 19-year-old whiz kid after the game in the mixed zone.
And that's exactly how he played.
Pavlovic is the boss of Bayern’s midfield – “good connection” with Müller
He pulled the strings at Bayern's headquarters in a completely calm manner; as a thinker and leader, he initiated the majority of the attacks.
Because Joshua Kimmich had to play at the back on the right, a large part of the responsibility in building up the game fell to him.
And Pavlovic didn't play the round of 16 of the Champions League like someone who was just completing his first professional season.
With his quick and vertical passes, he outplayed the entire Lazio midfield time and time again and initiated Thomas Müller's header, which resulted in Harry Kane's important 1-0 win.
“We have a good connection together,” says Müller about his young teammate, of whom he thinks highly.
It's a match: Thomas Müller and Aleksandar Pavlovic get along on the field.
© IMAGO/Sascha Walther
Is Bayern youngster Pavlovic already one for Nagelsmann?
“He turns up quickly and looks for the ball forward.
“He wants to have passing stations, I want to have the ball,” says the FCB icon, describing his interaction with Pavlovic.
What is undisputed is that Pavlovic will also be talked about in this way in the context of the home European Championships.
Is the Munich native already one for Julian Nagelsmann?
The national coach may now even have a Pavlovic problem, because: The “ball distributor” player profile in the DFB team is actually already covered by the return of Toni Kroos.
The Real Madrid star will be seeded at the European Championships, Nagelsmann has already made it clear.
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Goretzka is Pavlovic's role model: "He's a machine"
Does Nagelsmann even miss the opportunity to usher in a new era with Pavlovic due to Kroos' return?
Speculations like this come a little too early.
But if Pavlovic continues to play at this level, the DFB actually has to nominate him - before the Serbs do.
In theory he would be eligible to play for them, but the trend is strongly towards the DFB.
He didn't say anything about the national team question after the Lazio game.
The young six still has to work on himself anyway, and he knows that himself. When asked by
tz
where he still sees the most room for improvement, he answers: “Physically and defensively.”
He has already found a role model in this regard: Pavlovic raves about the muscular Leon Goretzka.
“He's a machine,” he blurts out in youthful slang.
But with performances like the one against Lazio, he is well on the way to becoming a Bayern “machine” himself.
(ep)
Marius Epp reports from the Allianz Arena