Photo Credit: Andreas Gebert, Reuters
Muller scored 722 goals for club and country across his career and he also became the first German international to win the Ballon d’Or when he won the individual honour in 1970.
Bayern President Herbert Hainer said:
“Today is a sad, dark day for FC Bayern and all its fans. Gerd Muller was the greatest striker there’s ever been, and a fine person and character of world football. We’re all united in deep mourning with his wife Uschi as well as his family. FC Bayern wouldn’t be the club we all love today without Gerd Muller. His name and memory will live on forever.”
Muller was not your conventional, orthodox striker. He was short and not the quickest over longer distances, but in the 18-yard-box it was a completely different story. His acceleration and agility would give him an advantage over defenders along with his impressive aerial ability.
Much like today’s Thomas Muller at Bayern, the forward’s intelligence and proficiency to score goals from unlikely positions put him on a level above the rest.
Muller still holds the record as the Bundesliga’s all-time top scorer with 365 goals in 427 games. He finished as the top goalscorer in the league seven times between 1967 and 1978, winning the competition four times along the way.
In 1972, the striker scored 85 times during the calendar year, a record which stood until 2012 when Lionel Messi scored 91 goals throughout the year.
Muller also held the record for most goals in a single Bundesliga campaign (40) before current Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski broke the record last season.
The two-time European Golden Shoe winner won 14 trophies in Bavaria including three back-to-back European Cups in the 1970s and four DFB-Pokals.
Muller was given the nickname “Bomber der Nation”, shortened to “Der Bomber”, due to his unbelievable scoring ability for his country.
He scored 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany and was the nation’s top scorer for close to 40 years before Miroslav Klose surpassed him. What made Muller’s record even more impressive is that it took Klose over twice as many appearances to break the record.
The forward won his first accolade with Germany at the 1972 European Championships where he finished top scorer with four goals, including two in the final. He followed up this success by guiding his nation to World Cup glory in 1974 as he scored the winner against the Netherlands.
His 14 goals at the World Cup meant he was the competition’s all-time leading scorer until Ronaldo broke the record in 2006. Muller ended his international career in 1974 after his World Cup triumph and won Germany’s Footballer of the Year award twice.
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