After star transfer Sadio Mané had noticed outstanding performances in his first few weeks at Bayern, Liverpool’s newcomer has slipped noticeably in the past three games. In Munich’s most recent games against Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-1), Union Berlin (1-1) and Inter Milan (2-0), the striker was completely without a scorer point. Reason enough for head coach Julian Nagelsmann to doubt his new signing?
Instead of criticizing the 30-year-old, Nagelsmann emphasized Mané’s positive actions after the important opening win in the Champions League at Inter Milan: “As a target player, Sadio doesn’t have it easy physically against such big, strong players. But he had two crucial scenes with both goals. He was involved in the 2-0, in the 1-0 through his run, where he accompanies the big player for a bit and that creates space,” the Bayern coach listed.
Mané himself remained relatively pale otherwise, didn’t even shoot at the opposing goal in the first round at the San Siro – sport.de-Grade 4.0.
Nevertheless, Nagelsmann emphasized that he had no doubts about the million-dollar purchase, which had scored three goals for Munich in his first three Bundesliga games. “It’s not always about having actions yourself, but also preparing actions through your own running paths, and he took part in two decisive ones with his running paths. So I’m satisfied,” emphasized the FCB coach again late Wednesday evening.
Mané threatens the bank for the first time at Bayern
Nevertheless, it does not seem impossible that Mané could expect a break from work for the first time next Saturday in the Bundesliga home game against VfB Stuttgart (from 3:30 p.m.).
So far, the Senegalese is the only offensive player from Munich to have started in all five Bundesliga games. After the weaker performance recently, the rotation could also hit the goalscorer this time.