After dealing with seizures on the field, Jamal Musiala celebrated his first goal of the season by pointing to his head.
Musiala scored the opening goal for Bayern Munich in their 5-0 win over Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League on Thursday, reacting fast to pounce on a deflected pass from Harry Kane and fire the ball into the net in the 47th minute.
As he wheeled away to celebrate with teammate Aleksandar Pavlovic, Musiala appeared to look to the stands while repeatedly pointing at the side of his head.
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"The feeling I had today is one I haven't had in a while," he told broadcaster Prime Video. "I'm happy, and I know I still have steps forward to take."
He added that he enjoyed "having fun with the team on the field" again.
"Physically I feel good. This topic isn't anything new for me by now."
Bayern's star attacking midfielder was making the most of his first start since he collapsed on the field in two straight preseason games. That was the first public sign of a neurological condition that he and the club had known about since at least last season.
Musiala posted on social media that he had been diagnosed with "absence seizures caused by a neurological dysfunction" but that the condition wasn't a risk to his health and he intended to keep playing.
Still, he was out of Bayern's team for three games as he adapted to what coach Vincent Kompany called a change in his medication, along with the shock of having his condition revealed so publicly. Musiala returned to the field when he came off the bench in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Schalke in the Bundesliga.
"Everyone was happy for him -- 75,000 people in the stadium and the people in front of their TVs," Kompany told DAZN after Musiala's goal Thursday. "We knew his moment would come. He scored a really important goal.
"It's great for Jamal. Hopefully, the focus now will only be on his performances. He knows how to deal with the other topic and will continue to get all support from us."
Musiala's goal against Bodo/Glimt was his first in any competitive game since scoring in Germany's 7-1 win over Curaçao at the World Cup in June.
It was also Bayern's 900th goal in the history of the European Cup/Champions League, second behind only Real Madrid's 1,139.
"Really happy for him," teammate Kane told Prime Video. "He had a tough time there, especially early on in the preseason, start of the season, so it's good to see a smile on his face.
"It's the pressure that's been lifted off him, and now he seems really good. He's training really well," Kane added. "You can see the hunger, you can see the sharpness in training and he took that into the game and even before he scored he looked really sharp in the final third and then obviously a great finish and he should be really proud of himself."
Bodo/Glimt were the darlings of last season's Champions League, when they scored wins over Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan en route to the last 16.
They kept German champions Bayern goalless in the first half before the floodgates opened in the second as the Norwegian side sunk to just its second loss in its past 11 UEFA competition matches (W8 D1).
After Musiala's opener, Kane scored for an eighth consecutive Champions League game and Canada international Alphonso Davies added a third. Michael Olise then scored two late goals to add gloss to the scoreline.
"We're in a good position," Kompany said. "We still have players getting back to their rhythm. The counter-pressing, the pressing, the energy are positive.
"There's still room for improvement and we're working on that. A top-fit Jamal is a bonus compared to last season, where we played for most of the season without him."
Olise's brace took the France forward to 34 goal contributions in 2026 in all competitions (17 goals, 17 assists). Only his teammate Kane, with 39 (34 goals, five assists), has more goal contributions in the calendar year among players from Europe's top five Leagues.
"We play the same way. Whatever happens, happens," Olise told UEFA. "At halftime the coach said to just keep playing the way we were playing, that the game would open up and to take our chances, and we took them."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
