The unique life of Thomas Müller. What is his playing style?

Thomas Müller celebrated his thirty-second birthday on Monday. Fans have been seeing him on the pitch for twelve years and it will come as no surprise to some that he has been with the same club – Bayern Munich – for all that time.

In his rich career, he has had many successes, whether at club, individual or national level. What was his first club? Who did Müller look up to the most and what links him to Argentine Diego Maradona? I will try to answer all these questions in the following lines.

Thomas Müller was born in 1989 in Welheim, Bavaria, and his first football club was TSV Pahl. From a young age he was destined for great things. His coach and family friend Wolfgang Tuffentsamer remembers him. I remember one season where we scored 165 goals and little Thomas scored 120 of them.”

In 2000, when the young Thomas was 11 years old, he went straight from TSV Pahl to Bayern Munich, where he was one of the few footballers to make a name for himself in all of its youth categories, even winning the German league with the U-19 team in 2007.

A year later he made his debut in the A-team under coach Jürgen Klinsmann. But his career only really took off when the club appointed Louis van Gaal as their new coach.

In their first season together in 2009/10, Müller played every Bundesliga game and van Gaal had such confidence in him that he even let him play in the Champions League final against Inter Milan, in which Bayern eventually lost 2-0 to the Italians.

In 2011, van Gaal was sacked from the team. Thomas himself has a great admiration for him and became very close to him during their two seasons together, as evidenced by his statement after his departure: “It’s very sad for me because he was my teacher. FC Bayern is losing a great coach.”

Since then, Müller has been with Bayern ever since, managing to win 2 Champions League, 2 UEFA Super Cups, 10 times German Bundesliga, 6 times German Football Cup and 6 times German Super Cup. He also holds the record for the most Bundesliga titles with former teammate David Alaba.

Müller most often plays as an offensive midfielder, working as a sub and contributing to the team’s attack along with a striker and two wingers, creating play and scoring goals himself. Alternatively, he can play as an outside forward.
In an interview he described himself as a raumdeuter, which loosely translated means “interpreter of free space”

He was probably referring to his game intelligence and positional play, at which he excels. He is a player skilled at playing with and without the ball. His other attributes include flexibility, athleticism and versatility. He is also valid in the backwards game.

German national team coach Joachim Löw described him as an unpredictable and unorthodox player. Carlo Ancelotti, who coached Bayern between 2016 and 2017, also described Muller as unorthodox, atypical and highlighted his game intelligence and positional play, among other things.

Unfortunately, Müller’s career in the national team did not start well for him. On his debut, Germany lost 1-0 to Argentina in a friendly. Diego Maradona described the youngster as a passer of the ball in the post-match conference.

However, in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, the Germans took revenge on Argentina for everything, beating their team, then led by Maradona, 4: 0. Müller was the author of the first goal.

“He probably won’t think I’m just a passer of the ball anymore,” the German remarked at the expense of Maradona, who resigned as Argentina coach after the match. Thomas was even named the best young player of the tournament afterwards.

Since then, the playmaker has played over 60 games for Germany, scoring more than 30 goals. From an early age, Müller cultivated a talent for taking penalties. His impeccable technique and cool-headedness make him a top penalty kick taker.

Thomas is also a member of the charity Young Tako, which provides a 24-hour helpline for young people who have lost their parents or loved ones.

“I want to do everything I can. Society should pay more attention to these people and not take their fates lightly. I try to make sure that people with such a life story get the help they so desperately need,” Müller says of the organisation’s goals.

His wife, Lisa Müller, is a professional horse rider and together with her Thomas often attends various equestrian events. In his spare time, Müller also enjoys playing golf. He and his wife live on the outskirts of Munich in a large family home.

“I don’t like the hustle and bustle of the city, I grew up away from the city and that’s how I want to live, I like the German countryside and the area around Munich. Lisa and I have peace here,” he says.

Müller is already one of the legends not only of Bayern Munich, but of football as a whole, and his many achievements only confirm this. He has already won 29 trophies himself, so let’s hope he can win many more in the future, whether in the Bayern Munich jersey or the German national team.

Source: Bayern Munich, Bild