Matthäus blames Bayern for part of the blame: “Too little” – Ballon d’Or boss explains Musiala’s non-nomination

Matthäus blames Bayern for part of the blame
“Too little” – Ballon d’Or boss explains Musiala’s non-nomination

07.09.2024, 07:30 a.m.

Those responsible at FC Bayern are extremely surprised that the exceptional Munich talent Jamal Musiala is not one of the 30 professionals nominated for the Ballon d’Or. Now there are explanations from France – and criticism from Lothar Matthäus.

After the excitement and criticism over the exclusion of Bayern Munich’s national player Jamal Musiala from the Ballon d’Or, editor-in-chief Vincent Garcia of the magazine “France Football”, which awards the prestigious prize, has spoken out. In the weekend edition of the “Mediengruppe Münchner Merkur/tz” newspaper, it is stated that Musiala’s talent is not being questioned simply because the 21-year-old offensive player was not one of the 30 candidates that were published.

“In fact, he was there in 2023 and was also nominated for the Kopa Trophy, which is awarded to the best young player. But like Jude Bellingham, his status has also evolved and expectations were probably higher this year,” Garcia continued. “As a result, he was probably rated differently.” Musiala’s club reacted with great surprise to Musiala’s non-nomination. “I’m happy for every player who is nominated for the Ballon d’Or, but we at FC Bayern are very surprised that Jamal Musiala is missing from this list,” sporting director Max Eberl told the dpa, among other things. The Golden Ball is a special award in world football.

Clear words from Matthew

Record national player Lothar Matthäus, however, believes that Bayern also bears some of the responsibility. “With the level of unrest that has prevailed at Bayern over the last two years, no player there can win the Ballon d’Or,” the former professional told Bild. In order for Musiala to get closer to his goal of winning this award, the club had to be successful again. “And for that to happen, the Mia-san-mia feeling, which has recently been completely lost, has to grow again in the team and also in the management,” said Matthäus.

In his opinion, there are three main reasons why Musiala was not selected by the committee, explained the editor-in-chief of “France Football”: “Firstly, his shortcomings. Statistics in the Champions League, where he scored as many goals as Mathys Tel, for example. That is too little for a player of his caliber. He was also unable to convince in important games such as the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid or the European Championship quarter-final against Spain, where his performances were not catastrophic but rather neutral.