When Julian Nagelsmann sat down with Jamal Musiala on becoming Germany manager, he repeated a piece of advice he gave to the playmaker when they were together at Bayern Munich. That was to just keep playing as if he’s back on a small pitch having fun. Musiala’s age means that was just a few years ago, and it makes the words all the more striking, given he’s now effortlessly illuminating the greatest stage in European football.
Zinedine Zidane didn’t get this before dominating Euro 2000, when he was 28. Despite that gap, Musiala is being seen in similar terms to the French great then, at least as far as an individual European Championships goes. That is as the potential player of the tournament.
