Alphonso Davies’ best moments for Bayern Munich so far

Alphonso Davies is without a doubt one of the most exciting young prospects in world football right now, and we have had the pleasure of watching him excel for Bayern Munich for the past season. Sadly, his recent ankle injury means that he will sit out the rest of the year, but rather than dig ourselves deeper into misery, I thought it would be better to focus on how much Phonzie has offered the club, so that we can look forward to his return in the future.

So, without further ado, here are the top five best moments of Phonzie’s career at Bayern so far.

#5. Phonzie gets his first ever start for Bayern vs Union Berlin

Although Phonzie had scored twice for Bayern already (both times against Mainz), he had yet to start a game for his new club by October 2019. However, a series of injuries to Bayern’s defenders led then-coach Niko Kovac to field the young Canadian as his starting left back in the team’s Bundesliga match against Union Berlin. A lot of eyebrows were raised, mostly because of Phonzie’s lack of experience up until then, in an unfamiliar position no less.

Phonzie, however, turned those question marks into exclamation points with a fine showing against the capital club. Using his pace and positioning to great effect, Phonzie completed twelve tackles and four dribbles, and also made 105 touches as well. Buoyed by Phonzie’s performance, Bayern put an end to their two-game winless streak in the league with a 2-1 victory.

Kovac left Bayern a week from then on, but Phonzie’s status was untroubled. If anything, it was further cemented under new coach Hansi Flick, with the youngster starting all but two of Bayern’s games for the remainder of the season. The Union game was truly the start of something new for our Phonzie.

#4. Phonzie becomes the Bundesliga’s fastest player vs Bremen

When Bayern faced Werder Bremen on Matchday 32 last season, they were just one victory away from an eighth successive Bundesliga title. It turns out that the Bundesliga was not the only title that Phonzie would walk away with that day.

At one point in the game, Phonzie clocked a top speed of 36.51 kilometers per hour, breaking Achraf Hakimi’s record and officially becoming the fastest player in the Bundesliga. As shown in his post-match interview, Phonzie himself was evidently just as surprised as we all were, doing a double take and asking “Really?”, while his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. But after the shock had subsided, he added in classic Phonzie style: “I just do my job.”

The evening wasn’t perfect for Phonzie, as he got sent off late in the game, but he made up for it by apologizing on camera. I guess that’s the Canadian in him.

#3. Phonzie goes full Millennium Falcon on Erling Haaland vs Dortmund

Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Star Wars, the Millennium Falcon is the fastest starship in the galaxy, with her hyperdrive allowing her to make .5 past light speed, whatever that means. After Bayern’s clash with Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 28 last season, it was pretty clear that Phonzie had a hyperdrive of his own.

In the first half of the game, with the score still tied at 0-0, Dortmund’s Erling Haaland broke away from David Alaba and raced through on goal. But just as the Norwegian thought he was home free, Phonzie raced in from behind and smothered Haaland’s attack in the blink of an eye. Phonzie had started his run a whopping 12.5 meters behind Haaland, but accelerated to 35 kilometers per hour, covering 27 meters and overtaking the Dortmund striker in just 3.1 seconds. Now that’s a hyperdrive if I’ve ever seen one!

Not only that, but Phonzie also made 42 sprints and five dribbles all game, with the best of them coming in the first half when he somehow wove his way through five (!) defenders. His performance helped his team to a 1-0 win over their main title rivals, and also earned him a new nickname — the “FC Bayern Roadrunner” — from (who else?) Thomas Muller.

#2. Phonzie receives a standing ovation in London vs Chelsea

By March 2020, Phonzie had already made a name for himself in the Bundesliga, especially with the Bayern faithful. However, he was still a relatively lesser known player outside of Germany. But all that changed when the Bavarians faced Chelsea in the round of 16.

Phonzie defended his left flank very well, with two blocks and eight ball recoveries, the best of which was probably when he overtook Mason Mount and successfully let the ball out for a goal kick. But the crowning jewel of his performance against the Blues came just a quarter hour from full time. Playing a one-two with Philippe Coutinho, the Canadian scrambled between two defenders and powered through an attempted tackle from Andreas Christensen to find his path completely open. Phonzie roared into the penalty area and squared the ball across goal for Robert Lewandowski to score an easy tap-in. In doing so, Phonzie covered well over fifty meters, not to mention three defenders.

Needless to say, Stamford Bridge was stunned into silence, bar the rapture of the traveling Bayern fans. Such was Phonzie’s impact that after the final whistle, the Bayern fans chanted his name repeatedly and gave him a standing ovation, which he accepted rather shyly after some encouragement from Lewandowski. It was a performance that engraved Phonzie’s name in the European stage, and showed the entire world what this kid was all about. Now the question was, how could he live up to those now-lofty expectations?

#1. Phonzie makes THAT assist (and ruins a bunch of careers) vs Barcelona

Well, Phonzie didn’t just live up to those expectations, but he blew them out of the water in the very next stage of the competition, against Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals. Bayern were 4-2 up past the hour mark, and one more goal would effectively kill off any chance of a Catalan comeback.

Enter Mr. Davies.

It all started when Phonzie received the ball just inside Barcelona’s half, right in front of none other than Lionel Messi. The fact that he was facing his idol didn’t faze Phonzie one bit, though, as he wriggled away from the Barcelona captain before skipping over a reckless challenge from Arturo Vidal. He then charged down the left flank with Nelson Semedo hot on his heels, and the Portuguese right-back eventually got near enough to Phonzie to cut off his dribbling lanes.

Or so he thought.

Phonzie pulled off a couple of fake step-overs to bamboozle Semedo, and before his opponent even knew what was going on, left him in the dust. He then cruised past a stunned Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet and squared the ball for Joshua Kimmich to score Bayern’s fifth goal of the night. A Canadian that precious few had heard of before this season had made the best assist of the tournament, sending half the Barcelona team for a hot dog in the process.

Even the cameraman was impressed enough to put Phonzie in the spotlight ahead of goal scorer Kimmich, who admitted after the game that his goal was “99 percent his (Phonzie’s).” Phonzie’s Champions League campaign was far from done, though. After crushing Barcelona 8-2, his team dispatched Olympique Lyon 3-0 in the semifinals, and he eventually lifted the coveted trophy after playing the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 final win against Paris Saint-Germain. A fitting end to a near-perfect season from the youngster.

Photo by M. Donato/FC Bayern via Getty Images

Likewise, Phonzie has made so many fond memories for the global Bayern family. But what makes him truly special is that his fame has not gone to his head. He remains as down to earth and easy-going as the teenager he is, and that is probably one of the biggest reasons why he has won over so many hearts, as well as trophies.

It is certainly a shame that we won’t see him on the pitch until the new year, but now it is time to return the favor. Phonzie has given us so much, and now we need to repay him with our fullest support. I am confident that every single Bayern fan in the world will be wishing Phonzie a speedy recovery, and hopefully we can make even more great memories once he returns!

Get well soon, Phonzie. We’re with you to the end of the line!