Bayern’s new signing Saibari makes historic Bundesliga debut | OneFootball

FC Bayern celebrated a 5-1 victory over Stuttgart on Friday evening to kick off the new Bundesliga season. However, especially early on and shortly after halftime, they struggled more than the final score suggests. 

In the end, though, the record champions were satisfied—partly because they had to deal with many players joining the team late during preseason. Additionally, there were already key contributions from the bench on the first matchday.

Among them was new signing Ismael Saibari, who made his mark in the Bundesliga right away.

Saibari impresses right away on his debut

It’s impressive that Saibari delivered two assists right after coming off the bench. On one occasion, he outpaced Finn Jeltsch down the baseline and played the ball back to Aleksandar Pavlovic; on his second assist, he set up Luis Diaz with a beautiful pass while spinning.

Photo: IMAGO

Particularly exciting: With his first game and two assists, Saibari immediately set a Bundesliga record. He became only the sixth player to record two assists on his Bundesliga debut—at least since records began in 2004. Before him, Robbie Kruse, Luis Diaz, Shinji Ono, Toni Kroos, and Diego had achieved this feat. Meanwhile, no one has ever recorded more than two assists in their debut.

Considering that Saibari was still dealing with a muscle injury after the World Cup and can’t yet be at 100%, we can look forward to many more outstanding performances from the Moroccan. He hasn’t yet seemed perfectly integrated into Bayern’s play in every situation, but that’s completely normal at this stage.

Saibari should improve rapidly in the coming weeks, and his on-field instincts should kick in more effectively. And then he could become even more valuable. In any case, his debut is certainly encouraging.