Coman, Pavard, Hernandez and Tolisso: the Bayern Munich cornerstones behind France's Euro bid
Bayern Munich quartet Kingsley Coman, Benjamin Pavard, Lucas Hernandez and Corentin Tolisso are all part of the France squad looking to add the UEFA Euro 2020 title to their 2018 FIFA World Cup crown this summer.
bundesliga.com turns the spotlight on the magnifique foursome who will try to push Les Bleus (the Blues) to the summit of European football.
Kingsley Coman
Age: 24
2020/21 Bundesliga appearances/goals: 29/5
Position: Left wing
'King' rode the wave of his 2019/20 UEFA Champions League final winner against former club Paris Saint-Germain to enjoy his best season yet in a Bayern shirt.
The ex-Juventus man had never played so many Bundesliga matches, scored so many goals, nor tallied as many assists - 10 - as he did in the 2020/21 campaign to make him a shoo-in for Didier Deschamps' France squad. Coman registered three of those assists in the six-goal thriller Bayern played out with RB Leipzig in one of the games of the season on Matchday 10.
And just in case Deschamps had forgotten him, he made two and scored another in the 5-2 win over Augsburg on the final day before lifting his sixth Meisterschale and extending his championship-winning streak to an incredible nine successive seasons across three leagues.
Watch: Coman's assist hat-trick
"We have four very high quality wingers. Right now, Kingsley is the one who is setting the tone and who is dangerous in both scoring and setting up goals," explained Hansi Flick after Coman's 'hat-trick' against Leipzig. "There are very few in that position who have those qualities. He's very fast and so tricky."
"Kingsley is now an absolutely top player and is extremely valuable for FC Bayern," said CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in December. "He often makes the difference, especially when it matters." A EURO final winner from Coman anyone?
Benjamin Pavard
Age: 25
2020/21 Bundesliga appearances/goals: 24/0
Position: Right-back/Centre-back
Pavard came to the fore playing at the heart of Stuttgart's defence, but the former Lille youth academy prospect is mostly used on the right side of the Bayern back four, and it's the same with national team coach Deschamps.
Like the legendary Lilian Thuram before him, Pavard is a victim of his own versatility, not that it has had an effect on his performances.
"Benjamin Pavard had a fantastic season last season," said Flick last November. "He's improving game on game. He carries out his role as right-back marvellously, as he does for France. He's excellent going forward and defending. He's gives us everything we need in our game."
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His 2019/20 campaign was certainly right out of the top drawer - 4 goals and 5 assists in 32 league matches - though his 2020/21 season did not quite live up to that as he failed to be involved in a Bundesliga goal in his 24 outings.
Injury and illness also held the 25-year-old back, but he goes into the EURO as France's number one choice at right-back as he has the complete faith of Deschamps, who rather stumbled across Pavard as a solution when Djibril Sidibé was injured shortly before the 2018 trip to Russia.
Sidibe had been expected to be first-choice at the World Cup, but his lack of fitness opened the door for Pavard, who strutted right through it, scoring the goal of the tournament against Argentina as Les Bleus claimed football's biggest prize for the second time. If they add the continental crown to that, Pavard will almost certainly have played a major role.
Lucas Hernandez
Age: 25
2020/21 Bundesliga appearances/goals: 23/0
Position: Left-back/Centre-back
Another Bayern defender with more than one string to his bow, Hernandez - like Pavard - was one of the surprises to emerge from his country's 2018 success.
Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy should have been France's first-choice left-back, but he suffered a serious knee injury. Mendy did eventually go to Russia, but Hernandez's superior fitness saw him slot into Deschamps' starting XI and he has yet to leave it.
Hernandez has had to contend with the emergence of Alphonso Davies as a very credible rival to his place on the left side of the Bayern back four over the last two seasons, and the Canada international was a major reason why the Frenchman made just 18 starts in 2020/21.
But the former Atletico Madrid man was highly effective even when coming off the bench, earning praise from teammate Thomas Müller after a cameo that lasted only a couple of minutes in the 4-2 defeat of Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 24.
"A special thanks to Lucas Hernandez," wrote Müller on Instagram. "What you do for us every time you come off the bench is special."
Corentin Tolisso
Age: 26
2020/21 Bundesliga appearances/goals: 16/1
Position: Central midfield
Since Tolisso arrived at Bayern in 2017, the former Lyon midfielder has not had an easy ride. After rupturing his ACL early in the 2018/19 campaign, he returned to make 13 appearances in 2019/20 before ankle surgery cut it short.
The 2020/21 season was - unfortunately for Bayern and 'Coco' - no different. The 2018 FIFA World Cup winner had already missed four games through injury and a further two due to suspension when he tore a hamstring tendon in training in February.
That sidelined him for a further 11 German top-flight matches, and he only returned on Matchday 33, playing exactly 45 minutes combined over the closing two games to prove his fitness to Deschamps.
"I was at rock-bottom. I told Kingsley, 'I'm more than sick of this! Cruciate in 2018, last year a thing for three months, and now this!' I just wanted to play," Tolisso told French media adding that the unflinching mentality at Bayern helped him recover so quickly.
"When you arrive at Bayern and see Franck Ribery or Arjen Robben 35 years old or more, and they're still the best, when you see all that they do to be that good, that has an effect on you.
"And what also left its mark on me is that whether we're playing the side in second or bottom of the table, when we win, there are guys in the dressing room shouting with the same enthusiasm. After two draws here it's almost a crisis. Here, it's all win, win, win."
The awesome Bayern foursome will carry their nation's hopes this summer and fly their club's flag, and they are likely to soon be joined by more teammates at the Allianz Arena.
Dayot Upamecano will be a Bayern player next season, and the centre-back already has three senior caps to his name after making his debut in September. He missed out on the senior EURO, but will play the final stages of the U21 version.
Tanguy Nianzou made six Bundesliga appearances last season, his first at Bayern since moving from PSG. The highly rated 18-year-old defender is a regular for his country at U18 level and is surely one that Deschamps and future France coaches will have their eye on.
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