After his outstanding performance, he has two days off. Leroy Sané and his colleagues from FC Bayern were able to relax on Monday, and coach Julian Nagelsmann has scheduled the next training session for Wednesday.

In the 7-0 (4-0) away win against VfL Bochum on Sunday evening, Sané was one of Bayern’s best, the international scored 1-0, it was his first Bundesliga goal in almost six months. Most recently, the 26-year-old scored 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on February 26.

“He’s a player who always polarizes a bit because of his style. When he’s 100 percent interested, he’s one of the best players in Europe,” said Nagelsmann after the final whistle in Bochum.

In the first three competitive games of the season, the coach had put Sané on the bench. He was allowed to play against VfL from the start for the first time. And made a decisive contribution to the fact that Bayern have already scored 13 goals in two away games in the league so far and lead the table with nine points and 15:1 goals. No team has scored that many goals in the history of the league in the first three matchdays.

“He’s been criticized again in the past few weeks. He got out of his own crisis a bit and did a great job,” said Nagelsmann about Sané. “He has all the skills, this technique paired with the speed. It’s always important to me that Leroy also does the talent-free actions, i.e. sprints afterwards and gets the ball. That he switches, defends in set pieces.”

If you “leave him a little bit alone and give him a bit of trust, he has outstanding skills,” says Nagelsmann. Sané is not a player who comes to the coach’s office every day and wants to talk.

Sané urgently needs time to recommend himself to national coach Hansi Flick for a starting eleven at the World Cup in Qatar, which begins in November.

His team-mate Joshua Kimmich sees him on the right track: “Leroy played a sensational game. That became apparent in training, where he was very conspicuous in the past two weeks. When he didn’t play, there was criticism from the outside. It’s not easy for a player. But he is mentally stable.”

On Saturday (6.30 p.m., Sky) Bayern receive Borussia Mönchengladbach. There will be hardship cases, especially on the offensive. Kingsley Coman, who had been suspended recently, also shone in Bochum and scored 3-0. Serge Gnabry prepared the 6:0 after being substituted on and scored the 7:0. “I’ve never been destroyed like this before,” admitted Bochum attacker Simon Zoller.

World champion Thomas Müller is seeded, against Mönchengladbach the recently injured young star Jamal Musiala, who was last in top form, returns. “Whoever plays on Saturday is not so easy after the game,” said Nagelsmann after the win on Sunday.

And French international Coman emphasized: “We are very proud, but we have to keep playing like this. We have a lot of opportunities on offense. But this season will be very long.”

The competition also stimulates the defensive. Before the season, Nagelsmann wanted six to seven goals from Matthijs de Ligt, for whom Bayern paid almost 70 million euros to Juventus Turin. The 23-year-old central defender fulfilled this special assignment against Bochum, scored a header in his first game in the starting XI to make it 2-0 and organized the defence.

“It gives you a good feeling when you have a large selection of players,” said Nagelsmann. Because of the competition, his players may not feel “that they can rest in training.”

The training sessions this week will make the difference. “We have such a dense squad that the pure game performance is no longer the only decisive factor in who will be in the starting XI on the next matchday,” emphasized the coach.

“We have a good selection and those who train best play on Saturday night.” The team’s energy is different than last season. “Everyone gives everyone everything. Only then can you be successful.”