Jamal Musiala is emerging as Bayern Munich’s key player. Will he stay?

BERLIN (AP) — Jamal Musiala is emerging as Bayern Munich’s most important player this season. The club is hoping the young Germany star will stay for the long term.

Musiala’s contract with the Bavarian powerhouse is up at the end of the 2025-26 season, so there’s still plenty of time for the parties to reach an agreement on an extension.

But his form this season has brought an urgency to the issue. Musiala is playing better than ever, putting Bayern’s decision-makers under pressure to tie the player to the club before he’s lured away by a rival.

Bayern lost Toni Kroos and David Alaba to Real Madrid after failing to extend their contracts, while Robert Lewandowski departed the club for Barcelona in 2022 after refusing to sign a new deal, which had a year left to run.

Musiala is much younger and Bayern has identified the 21-year-old forward as the future face of the club, albeit not at any price. Bayern has always prioritized good financial management and has consistently posted record revenues.

“Jamal is an extraordinary player (but) it’s not the time to talk about extending his contract,” Bayern director of sport Max Eberl said recently after the team’s 4-0 win over Mainz in the German Cup, when Musiala scored a hat trick.

After that game, Musiala made fun of teammate Harry Kane, giving a mock interview in which he spoke of “another special night” and “fantastic performance from the whole team against a really tough” rival, before saying “we keep it going … we want to keep this momentum.”

Kane generally gives versions of the same interview after games.

The England forward has scored 11 goals in the Bundesliga for Bayern this season, but Musiala is arguably emerging as the difference-maker for the team. And he’s constantly adding new skills to his repertoire.

Musiala scored with an uncharacteristic strike from distance for Bayern to beat St. Pauli 1-0 away on Saturday, stretching the team’s winning run to five games across all competitions.

“It was my first goal from outside the box this year,” Musiala said of his shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar. “We practiced that in training, to shoot from a bit further out. That’s why I’m even happier today.”

Musiala has been pushing his boundaries all season. He scored Bayern’s opening goal as the Bavarian powerhouse started the Bundesliga season with a 3-2 win at Wolfsburg. Despite missing some time with an injury, he has scored a total of five goals in the Bundesliga and set up two more.

He also scored with his head – another novelty – in Bayern’s 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League.

Musiala celebrated by touching his head, as if he himself was surprised he scored with a header. Usually, he scores by running at defenders, using his speed, remarkable balance, unpredictable direction and technical skill with the ball to sow panic in opposing defences. Most defenders are already aware that Musiala packs a precise punch and is capable of scoring from any angle.

The winner against Benfica was his second headed goal this season including one in his hat trick against Mainz.

“I think I’ve taken steps forward,” Musiala said. “Last year I was a little lacking in goals and assists, but I’m adding that now. I’m also trying to work on getting fitter so I can play lots of games in succession.”

Asked if Musiala was collecting arguments for his contract extension, Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund replied that the player “already had plenty of plenty arguments.”

Freund preferred to focus on the player’s present rather than his future.

“We said the last couple of weeks, now he’s scoring headers. And now he’s scoring from distance – you don’t see that every day,” Freund said. “It was another great goal. They’re also important goals that he’s scoring. He’s in super form.”

Musiala next has Nations League games with Germany against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary, before the Bundesliga resumes with Bayern hosting Augsburg on Nov. 22.

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Munich's scorer Jamal Musiala, center, and his teammate Harry Kane, left, celebrate the opening goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and FC Bayern Munich in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

Munich's scorer Jamal Musiala, left, and his teammate Alphonso Davies, right, celebrate the opening goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and FC Bayern Munich in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

Munich's Jamal Musiala, left, and St. Pauli's Eric Smith, right, challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and FC Bayern Munich in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

Bayern's Jamal Musiala, left, scores the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and SL Benfica, in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern's Jamal Musiala celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and SL Benfica, in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

JDEIDEH, Lebanon (AP) — It was not how the Rev. Maroun Ghafari had envisioned this Holy Week — for years, he had held Easter sermons in his predominantly Christian village of Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.

This year, he is preaching from a Beirut suburb, beside a cardboard cutout depicting his church in Alma al-Shaab, now caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Since hostilities erupted last month between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group — in the shadow of the wider, U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — over 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, and more than 1 million have been forced to flee their homes.

Among those displaced from the war-torn south are thousands of Christians. They now find themselves far from their ancestral churches in Lebanon, where Christians have maintained a strong presence through centuries of Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman conquest and plenty of modern-day crises.

Christians are estimated to make up around a third of Lebanon's population of roughly 5.5 million people. With 12 Christian sects, the country is home to the largest proportion of Christians of any nation in the Arab world.

Christian villagers who stayed behind in southern Lebanon, ignoring Israel’s blanket evacuation warnings for the area, have increasingly hardened into enclaves surrounded by fierce clashes.

And though villagers in Alma al-Shaab had been uprooted before, in the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, this time around, they were adamant they wouldn't leave, even as airstrikes came closer and closer.

The villagers huddled in their church for protection as Israeli warplanes pounded large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon while Israeli troops stepped up a ground invasion and Hezbollah kept firing rockets at Israel.

In his annual Easter homily, Patriarch Beshara al-Rai of Lebanon’s Maronite Church blamed both Hezbollah and Israel for the suffering wrought by the war.

“The country is going through a critical situation due to Iranian interference through Hezbollah and Israeli aggression,” he said. “Our hearts bleed for the victims of the conflict imposed on Lebanon.”

Ghafari’s brother, 70-year-old Sami Ghafari, was among the villagers who sought refuge at the church in Alma al-Shaab.

But he dashed out briefly on March 8 to tend to his garden, and was killed by an Israeli drone strike. His killing prompted the remaining villagers — including his brother — to pack up their belongings.

The U.N. peacekeepers in the area — a force known as UNIFIL that has monitored the region for nearly five decades — evacuated them to the northern suburbs of Beirut.

“We wanted to stay, but it was always possible that one of us could be targeted or killed at any moment,” the Rev. Maroun Ghafari told The Associated Press from St. Anthony Church in the northern Beirut suburb of Jdeideh, where the displaced from Alma al-Shaab came to worship on Saturday.

“Everyone is tired, and we see that war brings nothing but destruction, death and displacement.”

For many Lebanese Christians, it's a tradition on Holy Saturday — the day between Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection according to the Gospels — to visit the graves of their loved ones.

This year, displaced Christians could only reflect from afar.

Nabila Farah, dressed in black for the Saturday service at St. Anthony Church, was among the last to leave Alma al-Shaab. She still feels heartbroken, a month later.

“You miss the smell of home, the lovely traditions and customs, the sounds of the bells of three churches ringing,” she said, reminiscing about her village. “As much as we experience the Easter atmosphere here, it will never be as it is over there.”

Those who remain face other challenges.

Marius Khairallah, a priest in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, where much of the Christian community has hunkered down, says that he and his congregants are staying put "not out of stubbornness, but out of a sense of mission, to remain alongside their fellow faithful, as witnesses.”

“A significant number of parishioners have been displaced or are absent,” he said. "Yet churches still open their doors. Prayers are still raised — even with fewer voices."

Worries are mounting among Christians in the area as the Lebanese army — which seeks to stay neutral in the Israel-Hezbollah war — pulls out from parts of southern Lebanon, leaving them exposed to Israeli forces pushing deeper into the territory.

St. Antony's main priest, the Rev. Dori Fayyad, used his Good Friday sermon to take solemn note of the war’s widening toll on the southern Lebanese Christians, as the faithful recited prayers in Arabic and Syriac, a dialect of the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus.

“Today, you understand what the cross means, not as an idea, not as a concept, but because you are going through it,” he told the fully packed pews, the crowd so thick that dozens had to stand or crouch on the back stairs.

Some wiped away tears as Fayyad named one by one the southern churches, illustrated in the cardboard cutouts next to the pulpit.

“These churches in these villages are not only places of worship,” he said. “They are silent witnesses to suffering and to faith.”

Associated Press video journalist Ali Sharafeddine in Jdeideh, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

A girl kisses a cross held by a priest during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Parishioners walk in a procession after a Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)