Aleksandar Pavlović: ‘I can hardly put this feeling into words’

In August 2023, Aleks Pavlović was still playing in the fourth-tier Regionalliga. By the summer of 2024, he has Champions League experience and is in the Germany squad for Euro 2024. The football world is amazed. What does our newcomer of the year actually think about it himself? In an interview with FC Bayern members' magazine “51”, Pavlović reviews his debut season with the first team.

Aleksandar Pavlović on his rise at Bayern

The 2023/24 season was a difficult one for Bayern. There were many big wins with Munich's new top scorer Harry Kane and dramatic European nights, but it was also the first season without a title in 12 years, going out of the cup in Saarbrücken and finishing third in the Bundesliga. Pavlović, on the other hand, was a real ray of optimism. “Obviously, it's very tough that we didn't win a title. But for me personally, despite everything, it was a year in which I got a lot of playing time and was able to show what I'm capable of,” said the midfielder.

Times of crisis are times of change, and of opportunities. In football, this can mean that an interim coach is suddenly lifting trophies. That a benchwarmer plays a formative role again. Or a 20-year-old starting in a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu eight months after being subbed off on a yellow card in the reserve team's 3-3 draw with Wacker Burghausen in the fourth tier. Who is this Aleksandar Pavlović? Where does our young star come from? And what makes him tick off the pitch?

On 28 October 2023, a sunny autumn day, a lanky young player warmed up behind the Bayern goal at the Allianz Arena. His team got off to the worst possible start against relegation candidates Darmstadt, after Joshua Kimmich was red carded after four minutes. At half-time, the score was 0-0. “I was pretty sure at that point it wasn't going to be my debut today,” said Pavlović. After the break, however, his teammates were also playing for him without realising it: “Then I saw how the score was getting higher and higher. I was hoping: Please, please, please, just bring me on.”

Thomas Tuchel called Pavlović to the bench. It was 7-0 with just under 15 minutes left on the clock, and there's no better opportunity to try out a young player. It finally happened in the 77th minute. Pavlović stood on the touchline. You could see how he wanted to remain serious in that big moment, but the corners of his mouth turned up towards his ears as if of their own accord. “Standing there and then coming on, I can hardly put this feeling into words. I've been a Bayern fan my whole life, I've played for this club my whole life,” he stated.

Dad Dejan watching training

His debut against Darmstadt was followed by further appearances over the next few weeks, with his first assist against Borussia Dortmund and then his first start against Heidenheim.

Pavlović was the discovery of the season – not just at Bayern, but in all of German men's football. And it's been a long time since a Bayern youngster has made such a mark in his debut season. You probably have to go back to the 2009/10 season, when a somewhat smaller but similarly lanky homegrown Bayern player named Thomas Müller ran opponents dizzy.

Like Müller, Pavlović has played for FC Bayern since early childhood. After his first steps at SC Olching and a season at SC Fürstenfeldbruck, he moved to FCB in 2011 when he was discovered at an indoor tournament. He was seven years old at the time.

In the fierce competition that is youth football, Pavlović nevertheless faced a number of challenges. “In the U15s, for example, I was always the smallest for quite a while. I started puberty late and was physically weak. The others all had beards and I felt like I was still 1.20 metres tall. I had to learn to really fight, deal with setbacks and work on myself.” This time not only allowed him to mature emotionally but also honed his game. “When you're the smallest, you have less time. So, I had to learn to play faster in every action,” he explained.

Pavlović realised after his first senior appearances that criticism can come from anywhere, but is not always negative. When young players break through into the first team, the team and those around them endeavour to keep them grounded. In Pavlović's case, this role was taken on by the player whose path is most similar to that of the young star. “It wasn't perfect, I wasn't happy with him in some of the tackles in the first half,” Müller said after the win at home to VfB Stuttgart in the first half of the season. It was Pavlović's second start for the first team.

“Thomas is simply honest. And we all really appreciate that about him,” said Pavlović. “I knew exactly what he meant at the time. And he was right. If something goes well, he praises it. If something doesn't go well, he criticises, but always constructively. I learn a lot from him.” Pavlović enjoys training with world-class players such as Müller, Kane and Manuel Neuer. But he doesn't pepper his older teammates with questions. He learns by watching.

What Pavlović has learnt at Bayern’s youth academy, from studying his role models and on his way into the senior team has been clear to German football fans in recent months. Over 90 percent of his passes in the Bundesliga found a teammate, as did almost 85 percent of his long balls - putting him in the top two percent in the division. His set pieces regularly led to goals and he remained disciplined in his defensive positioning.

After his breakthrough at Bayern, he was called up to Germany’s senior squad in March. “It was a huge shame that I couldn't go on my first call-up. I had tonsillitis. But I was confident that I would get another chance,” he said.

In mid-May, national team coach Julian Nagelsmann, under whom Pavlović had completed a few training sessions at Bayern, decided to take him to the European Championships on home soil. The call reached him at Säbener Straße. “I screamed with joy at first. I think the coach likes my calmness on the ball, how I want every ball, how I anticipate the space.”

If there was any final proof needed of the 20-year-old's composure, it would probably be this call. Pavlović took it with maximum relaxation. He was sitting in the hot tub.

© Photos: Markus Burke

The extended version of this feature can be found in members’ magazine ‘51’