Torben Müsel offered an honest assessment after the 1-1 draw in Munich, noting that neither team deserved to win. Here’s how the Rot-Weiss Essen midfielder viewed the 90 minutes.

Klaus Gjasula was suspended, Luca Bazzoli was loaned to Ulm, and Tom Moustier is set to move to Portugal.

As a result, Rot-Weiss Essen saw a debut over the weekend in their 1-1 draw at 1860 Munich. This was the first time Torben Müsel had played alongside Gianluca Swajkowski in the double-six formation.

As was the case with the entire team, there was room for improvement here as well, although Müsel praised Swajkowski after the match. They were the only two players currently available for that position.

Moustier was already in Portugal, where he is expected to sign a contract through 2028 with Portuguese first-division club CF Estrela Amadora shortly. According to information from the WAZ, RWE will receive significantly more than the 300,000 euros initially reported.

That’s a lot of money for RWE, even if Müsel regrets losing his midfield partner. After the game in Munich, he said: “Tom put in some great performances. For many fans, it’s sad that he’s leaving because he was a fan favorite. It hurts us, too, because he brought so much energy to the field.”

Even before the match in Munich, it was clear that Koschinat was planning to leave Moustier out because he wasn’t mentally focused. For Müsel, the issue was merely a side note. “We treated Tom exactly the same as we always have. Tom is a young player who has developed very positively over the past weeks and months. This step comes at just the right time for him. It wasn’t a big deal for the team; Tom was in the locker room all week and didn’t interfere with our daily routine in any way. That was very professional of him. The way we handled it was, too.”

In Munich, however, it was clear that it was difficult to replace both Moustier and Gjasula at the same time. After the late equalizer, Müsel explained: “It was a hard-fought, tough game. There were a lot of battles in midfield, a lot of simple mistakes. We took the lead somewhat luckily, even though we didn’t really create any clear-cut chances in front of the opponent’s goal. Then we had to see the game through to the end, which unfortunately we didn’t manage to do. But given how the game went, the 1-1 draw is probably fair.“

Reflecting on the defensive midfield pairing of Müsel and Swajkowski, the 26-year-old summed up: ”He did very well; he has everything you need in that position—toughness in one-on-one battles and technical ability. Gianluca earned this opportunity.”