Bayern Munich’s passing machine establishes new mark!
Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović enjoyed a team-record day in his side’s Champions League win over Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old was a cool 150/155 passing, most of that in the opposition half, as well as 10/11 on long balls in 90 minutes of action (per Sofascore). He helped Bayern overcome a lackluster first half and a second half red card to see out the 2-0 result, and his pass completions mark makes for a club record in UCL action.
As captured by OptaFranz:
BFW Commentary
This is who Pavlović has been since bursting onto the scene in 2023: a smooth, composed, high-volume passer who offers stability that the Bayern engine room had sorely needed. It didn’t hurt that this was the kind of game where Bayern struggled to make incisions against the compact USG structure inside the box, resulting in a lot of cycling back and forth and all the way around to pad his numbers.
The performance was also some vindication for Vincent Kompany’s lineup. Bayern came into the game depleted, but having Aleks back there in the pivot next to Kimmich made sense and kept things relatively calm as the game played out. The two were arguably Bayern’s top two performers on the day (thanks to a missed penalty by Harry Kane). Incidentally, it is looking like a long way back for Leon Goretzka, who was no more than a stoppage time substitute.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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Category: General Sports
