Jamal Musiala ran away patting his head in wonderment but, even if nodded equalisers are hardly his stock-in-trade, there was little to feel surprised about. Bayern Munich had been knocking on the door all half against opponents who never looked secure and eventually they did as they have all season, averting defeat and fending off any breathless predictions of a revived Bundesliga title race. Of course it was Musiala, who had already won them two games in November, rising above the mean on Germany’s highest stage.
The tale of how Musiala was lost to England is well told by now. So the real story here was about someone who may shine in his stead; a player whose first senior call-up is surely a matter of time. Jamie Gittens illuminated this fixture, a modern-era classic in name and nature, by scoring a sensational goal just before the half-hour and tormenting Bayern all night from his perch on the left. If he lies on the periphery of public consciousness back home, perhaps now is the moment to remember his name. While a flagging Dortmund could not complain about being pegged back, their 20-year-old winger deserved to be on the winning side.
It has taken time for Gittens to build momentum since joining from Manchester City’s academy four years ago but he is hitting a formidable stride. His eighth goal of the season, and third in three games, was a supreme piece of high-octane forward play. Dortmund had built patiently from the back when, fed in a seemingly tight position eight yards inside his own half and next to the touchline, he spun and left Konrad Laimer for dead.
There was evidently no catching him as the pitch opened up and the only question, as he entered the penalty area, was whether he possessed composure to match warp speed. As the angle tightened he answered with a shot thrashed high beyond Manuel Neuer; the whole exhilarating sequence had lasted just eight seconds and it felt, to locals as well as those with concerns across the ocean, like a moment of arrival for the latest English talent to shine here.
Perhaps Gittens would thrive running into the spaces Harry Kane creates. But if he might soon be England’s gain, there was pain in the striker’s departure five minutes after the opener. Kane had barely been involved during a curiously laboured first half from Bayern and was withdrawn after brief treatment for what looked like an upper leg injury. He was seen walking onto the team bus freely afterwards but the antennae of any watching FA emissaries will have been raised. “He said it’s not too bad, hopefully that’s the case,” Vincent Kompany said.
Kompany could reflect that he had just about passed his biggest Bundesliga test to date. Dortmund had begun the day 10 points behind Bayern and remain too remote to be genuine positional rivals. But emerging unscathed, amid the usual febrile atmosphere at a game for which the hosts could have sold 400,000 tickets, represented a hurdle cleared. “No successful team can go through a season without such moments,” he said.
For Dortmund and Nuri Sahin, two and a half years younger than Kompany at 36, a transitional year was always going to bring hard knocks. They shrugged off a lengthy injury list to outrun Bayern before the interval, forcing numerous mistakes and seeing Felix Nmecha, another City alumnus, shine at the base of midfield. Counters presented a threat and if Marcel Sabitzer had scored after the hour, rather than shooting against Manuel Neuer’s legs, they may have been out of sight.
But Bayern, shaking off Kane’s departure, should have been level long before an unmarked Musiala glanced in a deliberate cross from the substitute Michael Olise. Had Gregor Kobel not saved brilliantly from Thomas Müller, or if Leroy Sané had hit the target when through, they may have had time to win it. Instead memories could linger on the sight of Dortmund’s yellow wall, a reassuringly special sight in a turbulent and troubled sport, pulsating to Gittens’ brilliance.
“I hope in the next camp he gets selected, if he keeps going like this he’s got such a huge future ahead of him,” said Nmecha, asked about his teammate’s England prospects. The secret may now be out.
Source: theguardian.com
