Ian Wright compares Germany star to Brazil’s Ballon d’Or-winning legend Kaka after stunning display against Scotland as Graeme Souness piles praise on the ‘special talent’
A German player, tipped early on as one of the stars of this summer’s European Championship hosts, produced an ominous performance in the 5-1 defeat to Scotland on Friday evening.
Germany needed just ten minutes to take the lead after Florian Wirtz’s opener before heading into half-time 3-0 and a man ahead thanks to Jamal Musiala’s emphatic strike and Kai Havertz’s penalty.
The hosts added another after the break through Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Fullkrug, before an own goal from Antonio Rudiger and a strike from Emre Can saw the match end 5-1 to Julian Nagelsmann’s side.
It was a match in which so many German stars blossomed, with Toni Kroos in particular putting in an excellent performance in what would be his last football competition.
However, ITV pundits Ian Wright and Graeme Souness were quick to single out one German striker in particular after a performance that will have the rest of the competition’s big hitters taking notice.
One of the stars of the 5-1 battle in Germany received high praise from ITV’s experts
Ian Wright compared the forward to Brazilian Ballon d’Or-winning legend Kaka on Friday evening
Meanwhile, Graeme Souness claimed the 21-year-old was like a ‘slalom skier’ the way he moved
“There’s a similarity to Kaka in how upright he is,” began Wright, who was clearly more than impressed with what he saw from Musiala on Friday evening.
“His feet are incredible for the size he is. Once he’s on it, he just attacks the space with his close control.”
And Wright wasn’t the only one to praise the 21-year-old’s performance after he left defenders in his wake in mesmerizing fashion throughout the game.
‘His poise is incredible. It stops and starts – it seems to start moving (again) before it’s even stopped!’ Soness added.
‘He is a special talent. He’s like a slalom skier and he’s only 21. You’d pay to watch him.”
England fans will also have cursed their luck on Friday evening, with Musiala naturally opting to play for Germany over the Three Lions in 2021.
Musiala was born in Stuttgart to a German mother and a British-Nigerian father and lived in Germany until the age of seven, before moving to South West London.
He then grew up in the English capital until he left Chelsea for Germany and Bayern Munich at the age of 16, making him eligible for both countries.
Jamal Musiala had players in his wake all night with his nimble movements and agility in attack
The player took the Player of the Match gong on Friday after a stunning performance
The Bayern Munich star emphatically scored the second goal as Germany raced into the lead
However, ahead of the postponed Euro 2020, Musiala pledged his allegiance to Germany, having represented both countries at youth level, and you can hardly fault him for the way he has flourished since.
Friday night was just the latest in a string of stunning performances as he scored his third goal for Die Mannschaft in 30 appearances from just 21 appearances.
The Bayern Munich star was kicked off the pitch after a match in which he was named Player of the Match before admitting: ‘I had the best feeling ever, we wanted to start well and I’m happy we scored so many goals. now we can go into the next matches with a lot of confidence.’
He added: “I think it was a good sign to win comfortably and we can take that confidence into the next game. For me personally, I was quite satisfied, but there are still things we can do better.
‘We won’t let it get to our heads too much and we will go into the next match with the same mentality.’