Sadio Mané doing himself in at Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich’s Friday afternoon training session was made very interesting by former Liverpool player Sadio Mané, who showed a lot of things that Bayern are expecting from the 32-million-euro man!

Mané scored two goals in the first training game. A tight left-footed shot, which young goalkeeper Johannes Schenk wasn’t too happy with, followed by another shot into the corner. Mané also nearly scored a sensational goal; he hit the ball with his back turned towards the goal and it nearly went in.

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann had a lot of pressing forms practiced directly, and with Mané being familiar with Jürgen Klopp’s setup at Liverpool, there were no problems for the Senegalese attacker. He chases the balls like no other, is not too bad for any path, and goes in for a tackle which is reminiscent of Leroy Sané’s improvement under current Germany coach Hansi Flick.

Photo by Nathan Zentveld/Getty Images

It is evident that Mané already has the goods to shine, but he has another trait that is uncommon when it comes to players who just transferred to Bayern: Leadership!

Mané is loudly involved in every exercise, being vocal by giving commands to his fellow players such as “Change!”, “Keep it!”, “Together!” He is also a team player, repeatedly offering himself with loud shouts and celebrates his teammates: “Come on boys, come on!”

Mané connects with his fellow players between exercises, such as warming up with Canadian left-back Alphonso Davies and having midfield general Joshua Kimmich put his arm on his shoulder during a Nagelsmann speech. When young star Jamal Musiala was tasked with doing push-ups, he jokingly pushes him down and says with a laugh: “Teamwork!”

Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images

Mané’s actions in training shows on thing: he clearly wants to integrate with the squad very quickly - and be a leader! He wants to contribute his experience at Liverpool and take on responsibility and win a lot of titles with Bayern.

Mané first appearance at Säbener Straße was well received by the other players, who are already enthusiastic about the relaxed, cheerful manner combined with the noticeable winning mentality that the ex-Liverpool man brings. It’s all about Mia San Mia, er, Mia San Mané!