National team: Andrich surprises with public criticism of teammate Musiala

Jamal Musiala has developed into a key player. At FC Bayern – and in the national team. This was shown again on the recently concluded international tour in the Nations League matches against Hungary (5:0) and the Netherlands (2:2).

His club is hoping for a long-term contract extension for the 21-year-old offensive star, whose contract runs until summer 2026. “He should become a face of FC Bayern in the future,” said sports director Max Eberl in “Sport Bild”. He will definitely extend Musiala’s contract and hold talks with his management in the near future.

“Jamal is a player like very, very few. “After almost every game, his colleagues rave about him – for them it is a pleasure to be on the pitch with him and it is a pleasure to watch him,” said Eberl. “At 21 years of age, he has established himself at the highest international level.”

However, after the Nations League match in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening, Musiala was criticized by a teammate. This came as a surprise – from Robert Andrich. The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder said of the two goals conceded: “We didn’t look good when we conceded the first goal, and I personally didn’t either.”

However, Andrich sees Musiala as being particularly responsible for the second goal: “The goal that made it 2-2 could have been prevented by Jamal clearing the ball earlier.” He has to learn that too.” Public criticism of a teammate is always tricky in professional football. At 29 years old and having recently performed well for the national team, Andrich is a leader who takes the liberty of doing so – and open communication is desired and practiced by players and national coach Julian Nagelsmann in the national team.

After his convincing performances at the European Championships alongside Toni Kroos, Andrich has earned a lot of respect in the team and is valued by the DFB as a person who speaks clearly about things. Musiala represents the “younger generation” and is important within the team due to his enormous quality and experience (already 34 international matches at the age of 21).

Dumfries scores after Musiala loses the ball

Before the 2-2, Musiala dribbled on the edge of his own penalty area. The Dutch won the ball and a few seconds later Denzel Dumfries equalised (50th minute). Musiala once said that his motto for his game was: no dribbling in your own half. In an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG he recently said: “This sentence doesn’t always apply, but it’s essentially correct.” At Bayern, I’ve recently been involved in the build-up play, so you can and must dribble deeper to start attacks and draw an opponent out. I do what the situation requires. In football, something wild can always happen that you don’t see coming. Intuition and anticipation are crucial.”

Musiala was self-critical after the game against the Netherlands: “Today was not our day, we will learn from that. I also lost the ball a few times, we need to be more confident with the ball and be more clever.”

In the 55th minute he was unlucky. He should have been awarded a penalty. After a corner, Xavi Simons hit the attacking star on the foot with an open sole. But David referee Massa and the video assistant decided against a penalty.

Previously, Musiala was the outstanding man on the pitch against Hungary in the opening match of the Nations League last Saturday, scoring one goal and providing three assists. He also scored three times in five games at the European Championships, was joint top scorer with other players and was named in the team of the tournament.