Jamal Musiala on Ballon d’Or praise from Bayern Munich teammate Alphonso Davies

Like most of us, Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies had an eyebrows-raised reaction to news that the Kopa Trophy was going not to local 19-year-old phenom Jamal Musiala, but FC Barcelona midfielder Gavi.

Davies, still 21, never won the Kopa either, and this year’s result marks Musiala’s second third-place appearance. Davies had taken to Twitter to support his teammate and friend, touting him for even higher honors in the future — hopefully at Bayern! — praise which Musiala took in stride.

“Phonzy is like a big brother for me,” Musiala said after Wednesday’s DFB-Pokal win over FC Augsburg (via Sport Bild’s Tobi Altschäffl). “His words surprised me, but also made me happy. It is every player’s goal to one day win the Ballon d’Or.”

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Supporting a teammate is something we always like to see, on and off the field. In the past few days, Davies has done both — and I’m going to take a leaf from fellow BFW staff writer Schnitzel01's book of cooking metaphors here. The on-field contribution, Davies’ 74th-minute assist, was delivered post-nutmeg for the man we fondly refer to as garam Musiala — a key spice to mix in whenever Bayern want to get cooking!

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As always, we appreciate all the support!