Other than Jude Bellingham, there are perhaps no two more exciting attacking midfielders in football at the moment than Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala. Both are German. Both are younger than 22. Both are valued at €140 million ($150) and both are seen as potential Ballon d’Or winners. Now, the two face each other in Europe’s premier club competition. Their meeting is a uniquely special moment for German football.
Bayern dominated the Bundesliga champions in the first leg of their round-of-16 clash, with an easy 3-0 win on Wednesday – with Musiala’s goal bookended by two from Harry Kane. This leaves Wirtz and Co. with an uphill climb in next Tuesday’s second leg at home in Leverkusen.
Historic meeting
It’s hard to put the magnitude of what Wirtz facing Musiala in the Champions League knockouts means in modern German football history. When Mesut Özil played Marco Reus in the 2013 Champions League semifinals, it was a big deal but their match-up was not the headline of the tie. There was excitement when Leroy Sane and Kai Havertz emerged in 2018, but not on the same level. In fact, this is the first time since the emergence of Mario Götze in 2009, that this level of excitement and disbelief has existed around the ability of a German footballer. And, unlike German trains these days, two have come along at once.
Great cinema awaits
The European meeting has got all of German football talking. Vincent Kompany has compared Musiala to Ronaldinho. Bayern legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recently said that Wirtz was Germany’s best player, perhaps in an attempt to boost the club’s chances of signing the Leverkusen player sooner rather than later. Former Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann recently said: “Wirtz makes every one of his teammates better”, adding that he doesn’t believe Musiala does the same. Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann quipped: “I don’t have to decide, I can start both”, while head of the German FA (DFB) Bernd Neuendorf said of the Champions League tie: “It will be great cinema.”
Indeed, that is the draw of Musiala and Wirtz – they are two of the most watchable players in football at the moment. They are the reason so many want to go to the stadium. Whenever they get on the ball, the crowd breathes in a little deeper, knowing that something special might be about to happen. They are game-changers, the kind of players that young fans want to watch and then go home and play as on a video game. Jamal Musiala has more Instagram followers than his Champions League opponents in the round of 16, while Wirtz has more than four other teams in the knockouts. They simply are the faces of this German generation.
Wirtz is the player capable of delivering something exceptional at any time – see him scoring the fastest-ever Germany goal after just eight seconds (against France last year). Musiala the one capable of wriggling out of impossible spaces with the ball at his feet and providing more of an aerial threat than first appears. In all competitions, Musiala is the better goal scorer but Wirtz the better provider. Both are capable of delivering in the big moment too. Jamal Musiala’s goal snatched the Bundesliga title away from Borussia Dortmund two years ago. Last season, Florian Wirtz’s first career hat trick secured Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga title. For Germany, the pair lit up the Euro 2024 opening game against Scotland, sparking the beginning of an amusing nickname for the pair – “Wusiala”.
Such is the quality of the two players, that their futures will fill social media platforms and sports websites for years to come. Wirtz appears destined for the biggest of clubs, while Musiala, for now at least, will stay in Munich – after recently signing a huge contract until 2030.
The present though, offers a fantastic chance for football lovers to watch these two play and for one to edge ahead in a contest that will continue for years to come. After the first leg, the slight advantage goes to Musiala.
This article was originally published on March 5, 2025. It was updated on March 6, 2025 to reflect the result of the first leg.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
