Aleksandar Pavlović takes advantage of his chance after the absence of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka in the top Bundesliga game between FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart. The Munich football youngster does his job in midfield. And shines as a standard shooter.
Which defensive midfielder will FC Bayern Munich bring in for a lot of money in the winter? As is well known, coach Thomas Tuchel wants a so-called “Holding Six”, i.e. a player who is primarily defensive-minded in front of the defense.
In the 3-0 win in the top game of the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart, the inexpensive homegrown player Aleksandar Pavlović, alongside Raphael Guerreiro, completed the difficult job very well and filled the gap left by national players Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka due to illness Center was created.
“It was a turbulent preparation for the game,” reported coach Thomas Tuchel after the important victory in the last home game of the year. Pavlović did a good job, said Tuchel.
FC Bayern: Pavlović is contractually bound until 2027
The youngster also shone with two Munich standard goals as a free kick and corner taker. Tuchel still didn’t want to celebrate him. “We proved today that we trust him. But let’s leave the church in the village.”
The German-Serb Pavlović, who came to FC Bayern as a seven-year-old, became more and more confident on the ball and more dominant as the game progressed, praised Tuchel. And then he was also “involved in the standard situations” with the headers from Harry Kane and Minjae Kim to make it 2-0 and 3-0. Pavlović was “a good boy,” said Tuchel.
The midfield talent received plenty of recognition from his prominent teammates in the Bayern dressing room. “There have been a few pats on the back,” he revealed. “There’s always a little bit of nervousness,” said Pavlović after his surprisingly calm appearance: “But then you’re in your film, you ignore everything else and just play football.”
The record champions recently contractually bound the homegrown team until 2027. He wants to establish himself more and more among the professionals, like Thomas Müller once did.
FC Bayern: Role model Müller criticizes Pavlović’s first half
“He’s a very nice guy, he’s a Bayern legend, you can only look up to him,” said Pavlović about Müller as a role model and said of his own performance: “I think I did quite well.”
Bayern’s current vice-captain and cult player had words of praise for the youngster: “It was absolutely no surprise to me that it worked well,” emphasized Müller.
At the same time, the veteran saw “room for improvement” with Pavlovic. I wasn’t actually that happy with him, especially in the first half. Overall, the midfielder played a “very good game,” noted FCB coach Tuchel.
“The squad is small, but on the other hand there is the chance for people from the second row to show what they can do. They did an excellent job,” said President Herbert Hainer and also praised Pavlović. “We’ll sit down for the next few days and think about what we’re going to do in the winter.” But nothing will be done just to fill up the squad.