“Please, pass the ball!” — Sadio Mané’s German training at Bayern Munich

A little levity for the end of the year: the FC Bayern channel released a video showing Liverpool FC transfer Sadio Mané getting a crash course in German to help with his on-field communication. Like with his footballing skills, the Bayern Munich forward is no novice — but it’s been almost ten years since his time at RB Salzburg in neighboring Austria came to a close.

So now that he’s linking up with Thomas “Radio” Müller on the pitch, he’s got to get his links straight from his rechts — and of course, know how to demand the ball from his teammates.

No time for niceties out there on the pitch! And of course, Sadio isn’t trying only to get to a Bundesliga 2 level here, but to win the Bundesliga title and Champions League trophies. That’s where the language lessons step up a notch. From the simple — pass den ball, pass den ball! — to Ihr müsst mir eure Ausweise noch geben (‘You still have to give me your IDs’) — Sadio Mané is well on his way to taking charge at the Allianz Arena.