I was there when Mateusz Musiałowski finally made his debut in senior football

Image via @LFC on Twitter

A mildly clickbait-y title I grant you, but allow me quite large levels of self-indulgence in this article if you can. 

Imagining a Venn diagram of “people interested in Polish football” and “Liverpool supporters”, you will find me very much in the overlap. Having had a season ticket at Anfield since I was a fairly young child, I’ve had the privilege of seeing many great players play for the team I follow, and have seen many great Polish players play against Liverpool there, from big names like Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zieliński down to my slightly more cult favourites like Przemysław Płacheta and Mateusz Klich. However, it wasn’t until Thursday night that I got to see a Polish player play there for Liverpool. 

It feels as if we’ve all quietly written off Mateusz Musiałowski, because here is someone who looked for all the world like a superstar in youth football only to still find himself at that level despite being 20 years of age. Seeing younger players in his position play for Poland and Liverpool ahead of him started to make me think it was entirely possible Musiałowski’s entire career might be one big “what if?”, especially given a transfer to Austrian side TSV Hartberg fell through last summer.

Of course it still might be, but as of right now I sit here with some pride saying that Musiałowski made his debut in senior football for Liverpool against Sparta Praha on Thursday night, and I was there to witness it. He’d been named as part of the matchday squad for the first leg, and on the way to the match on Thursday I was pretty hopeful he’d be named on the bench and given the already sizeable aggregate lead might get some time on the pitch for his debut. 

Said sizeable aggregate lead only got more sizeable, and at half time Musiałowski came out to warm up with fellow countryman and Liverpool youth goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek. As the second half wore on and Liverpool having already used four of their five substitutions, I kept glancing over to my right to see who was and was not warming up. Seeing Jürgen Klopp signal down the touchline to a smiling Musiałowski was a good sign, and for a brief moment as he was readying himself to come on it seemed as though due to Bobby Clark’s injury that a different player might’ve been required, but the change went ahead and Musiałowski had a good 20 minutes or so for his debut in senior football. 

Without wishing to sound smug or vain, it was a particularly entertaining experience explaining to the people next to me, who I’ve sat next to for a good few years at this point, who Musiałowski was and how to pronounce his name given they were unfamiliar with who he was. 

In truth, Musiałowski didn’t have a great deal to do in those 20 minutes, given the score was already 11-2 on aggregate and Sparta were sat quite deep for much of that time. He kept the ball fairly well and attempted to take on a few players, he passed the ball straight out of play but he also very nearly ended up getting an assist for Harvey Elliott, had the ball not been tipped around the post. 

More encouraging were Klopp’s post-match words on Musiałowski. Speaking to TNT Sports in the UK, he spoke about “players developing differently”, which certainly explains the long wait Musiałowski has had to make for a senior debut, which he also directly referenced later in the interview as having “already waited long enough”. Klopp went on to describe him as “an exceptional talent” and that Musiałowski is “really now ready” for more involvement, so we’ll have to see what that brings. With Klopp obviously leaving in the summer and Musiałowski out of contract in the next six months also, it might be entirely possible both of them leave Liverpool at exactly the same time. 

That particular line from Klopp about Musiałowski now being ready for more time in senior matches could simply mean he fills out a spot on the bench given Liverpool’s plethora of injury issues over the past few weeks, and potentially there may still be issues with player fitness post-international break. Alternatively, that comment could mean we see Musiałowski get some of this time toward the end of games that Liverpool are already in control of, easing him into senior football gradually. Indeed, Musiałowski might well be in the squad for Liverpool’s FA Cup fixture later today against Manchester United. 

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