A pair of 21-year-olds are entrusted with Germany’s playmaking duties at Euro 2024. Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich roaming on the right of the veteran Ilkay Gundogan, and Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen buzzing on his left. (AP)
A pair of 21-year-olds are entrusted with Germany’s playmaking duties at Euro 2024. Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich roaming on the right of the veteran Ilkay Gundogan, and Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen buzzing on his left. Slotting two No 10s itself is a rare tactic in the modern game, deputing two raw youngsters for the role is rarer. It was not a strategy born out of necessity, but manager Julian Nagelsmann’s conviction that the team should be built around them.
But these are not ordinary talents. Musiala, the youngest player to play a league game for Bayern aged 17 years 115 days, who became their youngest goalscorer 90 days later, has twinkling feet which he uses to weave and dribble past crowded backlines, make space in the most congested corners and accelerate without seeming so. A smooth passer, a smoother mover, he can create and score, sustain a press and snatch the ball from the opponent. He has mastered the elusively dark art of La Croqueta, the two-touch side-step, and has quickly become the attacking axis of Bayern Munich, scoring a dozen goals and assisting another eight for the Bavarians last season. Better finishing could make him a deadlier entity, but the legendary Lothar Matthaus has praised him effusively. “He can be the (Lionel) Messi of the future, he is excellent, he is doing the things that will make him a top footballer. He has great passing, he is clever with his thinking and he loves football.”
Wirzt, the ticking brain of Bayer’s triumphant season (11 goals and 12 assists), does not possess the stealthy feet of Musiala, but is faster and is a better finisher, a scorer of spectacular goals too, and recently authored the fastest-ever goal for his country. He can perform multiple roles, that of a conventional playmaker behind the striker, on the wings, or as a narrow number 10, as Nagelsmann often deploys him, and is exceptional in breaking the lines with clever passes. Another Messi comparison was inevitable. This time coming from one of the Argentine’s La Liga rivals, and Leverkusen’s manager Xabi Alonso. “Why is Messi so good? Because he knows how and when to play simple passes. Messi says: ‘You’re in a better position? Here, there you have the ball!’ It’s not always about making the most brilliant move, but the best and smartest. Florian can do that. That’s why he’s so good,” the coach would say.
But combining the two No 10s in one team, a Steven Gerrard-Frank Lampard quandary, had its challenges. The team could run the risk of two similar players operating close to each other in the area normally reserved for the sole No.10. But the coach solved the potential problem of similitude by knitting together a compact midfield three behind the false nine, Kai Havertz. Wirtz assumes a slightly withdrawn role, like a midfielder. Musiala lingers just behind Havertz. Wirtz would then emphasise on passing, whereas Musiala looks to spin inside the box.
A classic example was how they combined for Havertz’s goal in a friendly against France. The moment he saw Wirtz in acres of space in the midfield, he began to sprint upfield, twisting into the right side of an isolated Lucas Hernandez. The long pass found Musiala inside the box. He slid to the right, dribbled past the goalkeeper Brice Samba and from the edge of the box, rolled a delicious cutback to Havertz, who found the back of the net. It was a lightning move, consuming only seven seconds.
Both the midfielders interchange their positions, pinging a flurry of short passes and building patiently to unlock low blocks and then attacking with explosiveness. Their communication is often telepathic, which Musiala attributes to “connection off the field.” “It’s not just football that connects us. We’re the same age and have the same interests. He can play table tennis pretty well, but I’ve got more quality in basketball. We combine well together,” he recently said in a press conference, sitting beside Wirtz. The latter would say: “We both want to win the title and we know we need each other for that. We have a lot of ideas in our gameplay and are always looking for solutions. It would not be healthy if we were trying to outdo each other. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me who scores more goals.”
Together, they could be the most exciting pair of youngsters to watch out for at this Euros.
