Der Bomber der Nation: Gerd Müller
Gerd Müller, Der Bomber der Nation.
This time I come with an extra motivation to make this post because I'm going to talk about one of my favorite players in history, I think what this man did is a very underrated milestone today, a striker who set a record that took 40 years to be broken, that's saying a lot, plus he is a member of the club of 8, one of only 8 players who have won Ballon d'Or, World Cup and Champions League, He is also the only player to have scored goals in a World Cup, European Cup and European Championship final and to have won all those finals in which he scored. Today I will talk about the Torpedo Müller.
His beginnings as a player.
Gerhard Müller was born in Nördlingen, Bavaria, on November 3, 1945. His beginnings as a player were in the Turn- und Sportverein Nördlingen, a local club of his city, in which he had very difficult years because his characteristics were far away from the model of a striker of that time, Müller was short for the average and heavy for a player of that stature, Besides that his legs were short, all that caused more doubts than guarantees in his game taking into account that German defenders have always shown a prominent stature and an imposing physique in most of them, how was a 1.76m fight a ball to a 1.90m defender? it seemed impossible. But Gerd didn't let any of this stop him and with his impressive strength and having scored 51 goals in one year in the regional league, having an explosive season in the sixth division in which he played 26 games and scored 47 goals Bayern came along and put a contract on his table.
First years in Bayern Munich.
When Bayern promoted him to the first team, he was not in the best moment of his history, but playing in the Regionalliga which was considered the second German division at that time, those bad moments were left behind thanks to the 39 goals he scored in his first 32 games in that league, in the season following his arrival he was already becoming a star of the team, which he shared with two other legends of German soccer and Bayern, Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier. Müller's arrival was parallel to the most successful period in Bayern's history, his first seven years were very successful in Germany, winning four German Cups and one Bundesliga, but the European domination was still missing, winning only one European Cup Winners' Cup in 1967. It was from 1970 onwards that the real worldwide success began, and not only in Germany.
Worldwide success in Bayern.
1970 was a turning point in Gerd Müller's career, he had already spent more than 5 years scoring goals in incredible quantities, records comparable to what other legends like Josef Bican or Ferenc Puskás had done years before, that year he became the Golden Boot of the 70's World Cup and finished in third place, he also won the Golden Ball that year and as a curious fact, that year 1970 in which he was elected Golden Ball, he did not win any title. 1972 was surely his best year statistically, as it was the year in which he set the record for most goals in a calendar year with a giant figure of 85 goals, a record that would remain in force until 2012 when Lionel Messi surpassed it. In 74 he touched the sky of soccer by winning the World Cup with Germany and in his club, besides the European Cup (Champions League) he would also win the next two editions in 75 and 76, besides an Intercontinental Cup, his last title won in a long list with Bayern Munich. In total in Bayern he played 611 games and scored an incredible 568 goals.
Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
At the age of 34 the German left Bayern for a last adventure in the USA with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, he spent three seasons with this team in which he played 80 games and scored 40 goals, very good numbers although he failed to win titles with the American team, he retired in this team in 1981.
National Team.
He played with the German national soccer team, played 2 World Cups, finishing third in 1970 and winning the edition of 74, in the final of which he scored the title goal against Holland, he also won the European Championship in 72 which also came out as top scorer, today is the second highest scorer of the German national team, the third highest scorer of the World Cup behind Ronaldo and Klose and holder of the best goal average in selections, as he played 62 games with Germany and scored 68 goals, an average of 1. 09 goals per game, something from another planet and if we compare it with what he achieved as a player, in total 725 games and 661 goals, although the RSSSF awards him the total amount of 1226 games played in which he scored 1483 goals, an average goal of 1.21 per game. What Gerd Muller did as a footballer is something that deserves to be remembered forever. The German will leave this world on August 15, 2021 after more than five years of battling Alzheimer's disease. RIP.
Also one of my favorites. Wonder if Alzheimer's was from too many headers with the leather soccer ball. His career numbers are seriously impressive.
Yhh right he was indeed a headmaster of the ball !!
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Goal King Muller ! An Immortal!!