Torben Müsel offered an honest assessment after the 1-1 draw in Munich, as the match didn’t deserve a winner. 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.

That’s why there was a debut for Rot-Weiss Essen this weekend in the 1-1 draw at 1860 Munich. Torben Müsel had never played alongside Gianluca Swajkowski in the defensive midfield pairing before.

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 initially reported 300,000 euros.

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

Even before the match in Munich, it was clear that Koschinat was planning without Moustier because he wasn’t mentally focused. For Müsel, the issue was merely a side note. “We treated Tom exactly the same as before. 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 hinder us in any way in our daily routine. 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. Müsel explained after the late equalizer: “It was a hard-fought, tough game. There were a lot of battles in midfield, a lot of simple mistakes. We took the lead a bit 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.“

Looking at the defensive midfield pairing of Müsel and Swajkowski, the 26-year-old summed up: ”He did very well; he brings everything you need in that role. He’s tough in the tackle and has good technical skills. Gianluca earned his chance.”