Bayern Munich's Aleksandar Pavlović reminisces how being small ...
Bayern Munich’s Aleksandar Pavlović was always seen as a good talent by youth coaches, but one limited by his lack of strength and speed. In the modern footballing world, physicality is very important, yet it is not everything. The recent Germany debutant proved this by going from an infrequent player with Bayern II to breaking through into Bayern’s first team and starting against Real Madrid in the Champions League final, earning his place with his phenomenal poise, intelligence and mature decisions on the ball. Skills that he may not have developed as well if he has been as fast or strong as had been hoped for.
Speaking to Bavarian magazine Säbener51, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Pavlović talked about his physical setbacks: “In the U-15s, for example, I was always the smallest for quite a while. I started puberty late and was physically weak. The others all had beards and I felt like I was still 1.20 metres tall.”
But that problem provided the platform for his improvement: “I had to learn to really fight, deal with setbacks and work on myself. When you’re the smallest, you have less time. So, I had to learn to play faster in every action.”
In some ways, this story is similar to Bayern legend Thomas Müller and how his ungainly nature and lacking physical strength simply led him to improve the mental side of his game. Both Müller and Pavlović used their relative physical weaknesses as motivation to improve and both managed to succeed where others felt they might falter. It is a beautiful story.
Looking for more thoughts on Bayern Munich’s transfer strategy for the summer, including which players we would not mind seeing brought in? What about some ideas on whether or not Bayern Munich is set up to play a 4-4-2? Want even more? Well, we also have takes on Joshua Kimmich’s future in Bavaria, the German national team’s potential cut down, and Julian Nagelsmann’s possible mistake with Germany. Sound good? Then we have you covered with our Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show, which is available on Spotify or below:
