Lothar Matthäus is not the only one who has long seen Aleksandar Pavlović as a candidate for the national team. In an interview with t-online, the young Bayern star now formulates a big dream of his own.
Julian Buhl reports from the Allianz Arena
For Lothar Matthäus, the case is already clear: Aleksandar Pavlović’s performance at FC Bayern has long recommended him for a nomination for the German national team. “Yes, of course,” said the ex-Bayern captain and Sky expert after Bayern’s 2-1 win against Leipzig on Saturday evening when asked whether the 19-year-old was one for the DFB team.
Matthäus also gave national coach Julian Nagelsmann an urgent tip not to wait too long before nominating the young star. Pavlović was born and raised in Munich, but has Serbian roots. The defensive midfielder could play not only for the German national team, but also for the Serbian national team. Most recently he played for the DFB U20 team. However, he could still change his mind when selecting the senior national team. “In two years it will be too late,” warned Matthäus.
Nagelsmann has probably had the young Bayern star on his list for a long time. At the beginning of February, t-online asked the question, which is now becoming more and more pressing, as to whether Pavlović is on the verge of a big European Championship surprise. When asked about the possible existing contact with Nagelsmann, Pavlović responded with a meaningful, embarrassed laugh.
Pavlović: “The home European Championship would be a dream of mine”
He just emphasized that he couldn’t say anything about it. And he initially reacted similarly cautiously when t-online asked him about the upcoming nomination of the DFB squad for the international matches in March and asked whether he was looking at it with particular personal interest. “We’ll see if that happens. I don’t know anything about that yet,” he said, grinning mischievously again.
But isn’t the real possibility of playing at the home European Championships with the German national team a big dream for him that he already has in the back of his mind? “Of course. That would be a dream of mine,” he said to t-online in response to this question. “That would be very nice.” Being able to recommend himself with further strong performances at Bayern in the next few weeks is “definitely a great extra motivation,” said Pavlović.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann plans to announce the squad for the two international matches on March 23rd (9 p.m.) in Lyon against France and three days later (8:45 p.m.) in Frankfurt against the Netherlands on March 14th. By now it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Pavlović was actually part of it.
Is Pavlović the perfect complement to Kroos and Gündoğan?
With the returnee Toni Kroos and captain İlkay Gündoğan, two places in the central midfield have already been taken. However, Pavlović could be exactly the right addition as a defensive-oriented clearer and strategist that Nagelsmann is still looking for. It was precisely in this role that Pavlović impressed again and again at Bayern this season. He did it again in the 2-1 win against Leipzig on Saturday.
While Joshua Kimmich moved to the right-back position, where Nagelsmann plans to include him again in the national team, he took over his position in the center. There he impressed once again with his calmness and clarity in the game. He won the ball in his own box both before Harry Kane’s post header (5′) and Leroy Sané’s big chance (34′) and initiated both attacks quickly and cleverly. Pavlović earned a t-online grade of 2. (You can read the complete individual criticism of FC Bayern here.)
He had previously taken on a similar role in the top games in Dortmund (4-0) and against Stuttgart (3-0), in which he was also in the starting line-up. He also stood out positively not only with his calm, straightforward style of play, many duels won, ball contacts and a strong passing rate, but also with one assist each time.