Group stage prodigy, knockout enigma: Jamal Musiala still has much to prove in the Champions League

With just one goal and no assists in 18 knock-out games in the Champions League, Bayern Munich's boy wonder has much to prove against Bayer Leverkusen this week.

Facing another German team in Europe hasn’t happened all that often for Bayern Munich but when it did come about in the past it was usually seen as a bit of a fluke for the Munich giants. After all, no club in European football has made the consistent thumping of their domestic rivals into an exact science quite like Bayern over the course of the last 20 years. Even when Jupp Heynckes’ side had to lock horns with Jürgen Klopp’s famous Borussia Dortmund side in the 2013 Champions League final, the Bavarian club still went into the match with an unmistakable sense of confidence and calm. But that could all change this week.

I said on this week’s main podcast that despite their nine-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table and a rich history that has seen the club lift the Champions League trophy on no less than six occasions, Bayern probably go into their Last 16 tie with Bayer Leverkusen as slight underdogs. And while Vincent Kompany’s side have hardly put a foot wrong in the league campaign this season, they’ve left a lot to be desired in Europe. Bayern need to step up if they’re going to beat Leverkusen over the course of the next 180 minutes and no player exemplifies that more than Jamal Musiala.

The 22-year-old talent may seem like an odd player to point the finger at ahead of such an important game. After all, Kompany’s squad is littered with attacking players that have been performing well below par this season. Whether it be Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sané or even Harry Kane, Bayern’s array of attacking talents have all faltered in one form or another season. But while each of those players have undoubtedly gone backwards this season, or dropped off entirely through age or injury, each of them has at least proved themselves at the highest level of club football. And, despite his triumphs with the national team and through domestic competitions in Germany, Musiala has emphatically not.