It’s now been about a year since Jamal Musiala sustained his serious leg and ankle injury after a collision with then Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinals match. As a result of the collision, Musiala fractured is fibula and suffered a dislocated ankle on his left leg and he was out of action for both Bayern Munich and the Germany national team until January of this year.
After making his comeback from injury, when all was said and done on Bayern’s
domestic double 2025/26 season, Musiala made a total of 24 appearances across all competitions, tallying 5 goals and 6 assists, never quite fully getting back to 100% fitness until the closing stages of the season. For his absence in the beginning parts of the season in the Hinrunde, Vincent Kompany relied on a combination of Serge Gnabry and Lennart Karl to fill the void in Bayern’s attack with the other front three of Harry Kane, Michael Olise, and Luis Díaz being sure fire starters in Kompany’s preferred starting eleven.
Bayern made it work without Musiala in the squad, even though he’s a big miss when he’s not involved. For what it’s worth, though, the evidence was on display that Kompany can get by without him in the team, which is part of the reason why Lothar Matthäus recently suggested in a Sky Sport column that the onus is really on Musiala to perform to his best level this season. For him, there’s no more excuses for the German Rekordmeister’s number 10.
“At some point, the chapter of the serious injury he suffered more than a year ago has to be closed. He now needs to put it behind him once and for all. That’s absolutely crucial, because otherwise, given the intense competition for places, he’ll probably spend a lot of games on the bench,” Matthäus warned.
For Matthäus, he knows that Kompany is comfortable using Gnabry, Karl, or Olise in the number 10 role, which is where Musiala excels. The former Germany and Bayern midfielder knows it’s up to Musiala to not make himself just a surplus to requirements in that position even though he can also play out wide. “Serge Gnabry has shown, in tandem with Harry Kane, that the two of them work exceptionally well together. We also know that Olise and Karl are both capable of playing in the No. 10 role. Vincent Kompany will once again find the right balance,” he stressed.
Still, though, everyone has seen what peak Musiala is capable of and that is what the hope is going to be for Kompany and Bayern — and even with the national team with Jürgen Klopp confirmed as the new manager. Nobody wants to see him become less of a player with the trajectory he was on before last summer’s tragic injury, so Matthäus concluded that there were encouraging signs towards the end of last season with Bayern and at the World Cup this summer with Germany despite their early exit at the hands of Paraguay in the round of 32. “Musiala showed promising signs toward the end of last season with Bayern, and there were encouraging moments from him at the World Cup as well. But now there are no more excuses,” Matthäus rationalized.
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