Jamal Musiala's Ballon d'Or snub is a huge problem for Bayern

After a poor season in the Bundesliga and Champions League, Jamal Musiala failed to make the cut for the 30-player Ballon d'Or shortlist. And that could cause all sorts of problems at Säbener Straße.

“Hell hath no fury like a German footballer scorned.” That, clearly, isn’t the original version of the popular saying but it’s what popped into my head when I watched Jamal Musiala almost single-handedly dissect a Hungary side that clearly had very little interest in playing Germany so soon after locking horns with Julian Nagelsmann’s side at Euro 2024. 

In an almost identical re-run of that rather comfortable win in the summer, Musiala took it upon himself to cut through the Magyar defence around 20 minutes into the game, when he got on the end of a cut-back from David Raum to set Niclas Füllkrug up to score the opening goal. The Bayern star would need to wait until the second half to get his own goal, when an impressive break-away run was matched by a somewhat fortuitous finish. But Musiala wasn’t finished there. As if spurred on by some great injustice, the 21-year-old talent then set up goals for Florian Wirtz and Aleksandar Pavlovic, before calling it a night. It was a complete performance. And a startling display of what the young player is capable of. 

So what had Musiala so riled up? Perhaps the young star was simply delighted to be back in the reassuring colours of his national team, or maybe it was due to the fact that he had rather unceremoniously been dropped from the shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or; an announcement that was made just a few days before Saturday’s game but undoubtedly one that came to dominate the discussion around it. “I don’t know what criteria is used to decide,” said a disgruntled Joshua Kimmich after the match, when asked about Musiala’s exclusion. “Actually, the best players should be on the list and Jamal is definitely one of them. He showed that again today.” The Bundestrainer himself, who has certainly had no issue getting Musiala to play well, was a little more diplomatic when asked about the prestigious award: "Both [Musiala and Wirtz] have the potential to win the Ballon d'Or.”