Joshua Kimmich weighs a mere 70 kg (154 lb) and is just 1.76m (5 ft 9 in) tall. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 1.88m (6 ft 2 in) tall, a giant of Hollywood and a multiple Mr Universe winner in the 60s and 70s, but on Saturday afternoon, the latter jumped from his seat at the Allianz Arena to applaud the former.
Kimmich opened the scoring against FC Köln in the 40th minute, and Schwarzenegger was not the only one impressed. The 21-year-old has been one of Bayern’s standout players in the early weeks of the new campaign. His goal against Köln was his fifth so far - he has three in the Bundesliga and two in the Champions League, with only Robert Lewandowski on nine ahead of him in the club’s internal ranking. Joshua is responsible for the Reds’ last two goals in the Bundesliga.
Joshua’s fine finish
“He’s doing well,” noted Karl-Heinz Rummenigge following the 1-1 draw with Köln, “his goals are important, although unfortunately it wasn’t enough today. Shame!” Kimmich agreed with the chairman: “We could have taken more from the game. We were good in the first half and controlled the game well. In the second half we weren’t as aggressive when we didn’t have the ball, we weren’t able to put them under as much pressure, and Köln got back into it. And that’s why it ended 1-1.”
FCB were left with a point and the pleasure of Kimmich’s superbly-taken diving header from a Juan Bernat cross. “I thought I’d just continue my run and fortunately he saw me at the near post – or maybe he didn’t, but it doesn’t matter. I had a little bit of luck and in it went,” the midfielder said.
Learning the trade
However, given his current streak, Kimmich’s goal cannot simply be put down to luck. “I’m getting better at judging the situations when I can get forward,” he explained, “we’d already had two situations where I was really annoyed with myself for not continuing a run. I could definitely have scored.” Kimmich was exactly where he needed to be on the third occasion, right in line with Schwarzenegger’s most famous line: “I’ll be back!”
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