In association with Nissan, we take a look at the Goal Kings of the UEFA Champions League. Next up is Thomas Muller
Few could have envisaged a teenage Thomas Muller going on to become a UEFA Champions League Goal King.
In 2009, then Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann was convinced a 19-year-old Muller wouldn’t make the grade in Bavaria. His debut UCL strike in a 7-1 demolition of Sporting in March of that year hadn’t been enough to change his coach’s mind and Muller was on the verge of joining Frieburg.
The arrival of new coach Louis Van Gaal in July, however, changed the course of history. The Dutchman insisted on watching the youngster in training before he sanctioned a move and thankfully for Muller, and for Bayern, he impressed and was immediately handed an unexpected second chance in the first team.
Just months after he looked set to be cast side, Muller played in all but one of Bayern’s 52 matches in the 2009-10 season, grabbing 19 goals and providing 16 assists. A star had been born.
35 UEFA Champions League goals later – a tally that leaves him tied with the great Gerd Muller in Bayern’s all-time list of top European Cup/UCL top scorers – it’s now evident Muller’s doubters just weren’t looking hard enough.
But the likes of Kinsmann can be forgiven for their scepticism. The 26-year-old is not particularly quick and has no clearly discernible outstanding technical attributes. He’s wiry, inelegant, his tightly curled hair sits atop his head unrestrained and unstyled.
He isn’t suave, doesn’t leave defenders in his wake following a flurry of stepovers or no-look passes. He possesses none of the characteristics we have grown accustomed to seeing from the game’s elite attackers.
When asked what his best qualities were, current Bayern boss Pep Guardiola simply cited Muller’s “optimism and opportunism." Germany coach Joachim Low described him as “unorthodox.” What’s most remarkable about Thomas Muller is that he is so seemingly unremarkable.
But Muller a coach’s dream: economic, industrious, practical and devastatingly effective. When he plays a back-heel, he is not thinking of highlight reels, but rather of the best option available to him and his team at that moment.
Mostly operating just off a main striker, but possessing the versatility and reading of the game around him to fulfil a variety of attacking roles, his athleticism, industry, and deadly finishing have already seen him write his name in UCL folklore at one of the competition’s most storied clubs.
He hit a personal-best eight UCL goals to inspire Bayern to the title in 2012-13, including strikes in the last-16, quarter-finals and semi-finals. 17 of his 35 UCL goals have arrived in the knockout stage, while 15 have come away from the fortress that is the Allianz Arena.
Having already added a further 7 in this season’s UCL, Muller will soon be overtaking his namesake Gerd at the top of Bayern’s European Cup/UCL scoring charts. It’s been an astonishing turnaround from the teenager once deemed surplus to requirements.
“He is priceless,” said sporting director Matthias Sammer. “You cannot pay for these pieces of the puzzle.”
Married to an equestrian star and a keen lover of horses himself, the doubters have now long since deserted. It’s now plain to see that Thomas Muller is a UEFA Champions League thoroughbred.
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