Germany U21 international Julian Weigl is set for a special encounter today as he returns to his former home city with new club Borussia Dortmund to take on table toppers FC Bayern München (17:30 CEST).
Weigl, who recently celebrated his 20th Birthday, spent five years at FC Bayern's local rivals TSV 1860 München, with their training ground less than 1km from FCB's headquarters in Säbener Strasse. Since arriving at Dortmund, Weigl has proven what a talented player he is and his new coach Thomas Tuchel has given him the necessary confidence. "I trust in myself to play risky passes forward and I know that I won't be berated immediately after playing a poor ball," explained Weigl.
Despite the strong competition in Dortmund's midfield, Weigl has started all seven Bundesliga games so far this season and has made a further six appearances for them in the Europa League. Former Germany internationals such as Gonzalo Castro, who joined Dortmund in the summer after a very consistent season at Leverkusen, and Sven Bender are currently not playing a role in Tuchel's plans for his starting XI. Weigl combines the qualities of working against the ball and extremely high passing security on an impressively high level.
High praise from Guardiola
It's not unusual for the coach of the upcoming opposition to praise certain players his team is about to face, but even FC Bayern coach Guardiola admits that he didn't expect Weigl to play such a strong role at Dortmund. "I'm surprised of his quality. I didn’t know him before, but he has all the qualities one needs to play the position in central midfield. Weigl will certainly play for Germany in the future." Knowing Guardiola's high expectations for central defensive midfielders, one should not just see this praise as standard pre-match routine.
Weigl joined Dortmund with little expectations. "At first, I would've been satisfied to come off the bench to play for a few minutes every now and then," he explained, but Dortmund's officials quickly realised that he was destined to play a bigger role at BVB. "I never felt like the new guy here. More to the contrary: The other players approached me right from the start and passed me the ball in training," remembers Weigl. "That's really important for a young player. To feel accepted and receive the ball again despite just having played a poor pass. It's great for my confidence."
Strong partnership with Gündogan
Tuchel placed Weigl alongside the experienced Ilkay Gündogan and together they've formed one of the strongest midfield duos in the league so far. "The coach always tells me to play with bravery. And when I make a mistake it isn’t the end of the world," revealed Weigl. "He says that he wants me to play these balls forward to our creative players, even if some of the passes end up being quite risky." Guardiola has witnessed Dortmund's game undergo a change since Weigl's arrival: "Their game has become much quicker with him."
Germany U21 international Julian Weigl is set for a special encounter today as he returns to his former home city with new club Borussia Dortmund to take on table toppers FC Bayern München (17:30 CEST).
Weigl, who recently celebrated his 20th Birthday, spent five years at FC Bayern's local rivals TSV 1860 München, with their training ground less than 1km from FCB's headquarters in Säbener Strasse. Since arriving at Dortmund, Weigl has proven what a talented player he is and his new coach Thomas Tuchel has given him the necessary confidence. "I trust in myself to play risky passes forward and I know that I won't be berated immediately after playing a poor ball," explained Weigl.
Despite the strong competition in Dortmund's midfield, Weigl has started all seven Bundesliga games so far this season and has made a further six appearances for them in the Europa League. Former Germany internationals such as Gonzalo Castro, who joined Dortmund in the summer after a very consistent season at Leverkusen, and Sven Bender are currently not playing a role in Tuchel's plans for his starting XI. Weigl combines the qualities of working against the ball and extremely high passing security on an impressively high level.
High praise from Guardiola
It's not unusual for the coach of the upcoming opposition to praise certain players his team is about to face, but even FC Bayern coach Guardiola admits that he didn't expect Weigl to play such a strong role at Dortmund. "I'm surprised of his quality. I didn’t know him before, but he has all the qualities one needs to play the position in central midfield. Weigl will certainly play for Germany in the future." Knowing Guardiola's high expectations for central defensive midfielders, one should not just see this praise as standard pre-match routine.
Weigl joined Dortmund with little expectations. "At first, I would've been satisfied to come off the bench to play for a few minutes every now and then," he explained, but Dortmund's officials quickly realised that he was destined to play a bigger role at BVB. "I never felt like the new guy here. More to the contrary: The other players approached me right from the start and passed me the ball in training," remembers Weigl. "That's really important for a young player. To feel accepted and receive the ball again despite just having played a poor pass. It's great for my confidence."
Strong partnership with Gündogan
Tuchel placed Weigl alongside the experienced Ilkay Gündogan and together they've formed one of the strongest midfield duos in the league so far. "The coach always tells me to play with bravery. And when I make a mistake it isn’t the end of the world," revealed Weigl. "He says that he wants me to play these balls forward to our creative players, even if some of the passes end up being quite risky." Guardiola has witnessed Dortmund's game undergo a change since Weigl's arrival: "Their game has become much quicker with him."
After initially taking on a reserved stance at Dortmund, Weigl is now by no means willing to relinquish his place in the first team: "Obviously I want to be in the team in every game now." The next opportunity will be on matchday 8 when he takes on FC Bayern München in his former home town.
