Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala details the tumultuous week of preparation ahead of his Bundesliga clinching goal vs. FC Köln

In an extensive piece that he wrote for kicker (as captured by @iMiaSanMia ), Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala detailed the insanity of the squad’s final week of the regular season in 2022/23. At the time, Bayern Munich was sputtering and not even the favorite to win the league title. Confusion had run amok within the club due to the massive changes that were in motion and, overall, just about everyone was ready to turn the page on the 2022/23 season.

Musiala broke it all down below: The week leading up to the final matchday in Köln was like a roller coaster ride of emotions, which you can certainly understand. At the start of the week we already had the feeling that we had lost the title. We were all a bit down. But day by day it got better, we tried to stay as positive as possible.

You could see that we have great team morale and that we never stopped believing in ourselves. We all believed in our chances more and more every day. We knew there was still a game. We had to win in Köln, but Dortmund first had to win their home game against Mainz and deal with the huge expectations of their fans.

Dortmund also had a lot of pressure. Personally, I just focused on my game, I worked on my finishing with Anthony (Barry) all week, which I actually always do after training. We simulated and practiced finishing situations and shots on goal that could come up in the game. Over and over again, with lots of repetition.

And then I got exactly the situation in the game that I had trained with Anthony and scored the goal this time. At the World Cup and the weeks before (Köln), I had a lot of bad luck with shots and had to wait long for my goal. I sometimes thought it was all jinxed or cursed, the ball just didn’t want to go in.

The moment I scored the goal in Köln I was incredibly relieved. It was like that for all of us. It was a big moment for me, my biggest since I started playing for FC Bayern. There were so many emotions that I didn’t know what to do. I just screamed with joy and jumped around. I ran straight towards our fans and everyone was running after me.

I was just very happy at the moment and after the final whistle when we saw the result of Dortmund and relieved that we still became champions and I was able to contribute to it. Of course we really enjoyed the moment and celebrated the title, but we all knew that we could play better. My focus then very quickly switched to the next season: to just have a good preseason and make sure that the title race does not get that close again and that we also have a better season in the Champions League .

My thoughts were then that the 2024 Champions League final will be at Wembley in London and that we have a home European Championship in Germany in the summer, which is a unique experience. These are the goals that I work hard for and train for every day. I’m really looking forward to the new year and am very motivated.

Musiala was about as open as he could be with everything that was going on and you could feel that there was real tension with the team — and within himself as a player. After months of struggles, the youngster did come through when the team needed him the most. Surely, that was something that he desperately needed during such a crazy time professionally.

Related Weekend Warm up: Should Bayern Munich go big and get Fulham’s João Palhinha?; Chatting Fargo, Marvel movies (?!); Throwing it back to MGMT; and MORE!.