Noussair Mazraoui pleased with his start at Bayern Munich, Morocco call up

He’s only made a total of six appearances for Bayern Munich so far this season after joining from Ajax during the summer transfer window, but Noussair Mazraoui is starting to show his worth. Two of those appearances have been starts — the recent 2-2 draw against VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and the 5-0 DFB-Pokal first round win over Viktoria Koln.

Julian Nagelsmann has preferred starting Benjamin Pavard at right back, but Mazraoui was forced to come on in a difficult situation in the 2-0 win over FC Barcelona in the Champions League. Pavard left the game in the 21st minute due to injury, and it was quite arguably Mazraoui’s strongest performance in a Bayern shirt to date — his team collecting another three points and a clean sheet to solidify their Champions League group stage position.

In a recent interview with Az (via @iMiaSanMia), Mazraoui said that he’s been pleased with his start to life at Bayern despite not yet feeling like he’s fully “arrived” at the club yet. “Arrived? I don’t know exactly. After two good games against Stuttgart and Barcelona, it’s probably too early to say. But I think it was a very good start from me at Bayern. I want to carry on this way,” he explained.

Due to Pavard’s injury, Mazraoui could very well be in line for a run of games, in midweeks if not at the Bundesliga weekends. It's a tricky period for Bayern to navigate with respect to rotation. After dropping points in three of their first six Bundesliga matches, the Rekordmeister find themselves in an already precarious position that could see them slip even further down a table they are used to dominating.

Mazraoui has also been called up to the Moroccan national team squad for their upcoming pair of friendlies against Chile and Paraguay. He was called up for their last set of matches, but missed out through an injury problem, so there’s an added element of excitement this time around.

“It’s a great feeling. I was already called up in the last games but couldn’t play due to injury,” he said of the call up. “Now I’m fit and hope to play. It’s a great feeling to defend the colors of my country and make people happy. It makes me proud.”