At the round of 16 of the club World Cup, FC Bayern not only plays against Flamengo, but also against the impending end of the time of Thomas Müller at the record champions.
Julian Buhl reports from Miami
Thomas Müller did not let his good mood spoil by the storm front, which FC Bayern stayed on Saturday evening on the short flight from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale. When the team got on the plane with almost two hours late, the 35-year-old nevertheless grinned into the cameras of the club TV. Of course, they documented each of his steps. After all, it could have been the last one that he does as a professional FC Bayern as part of a competitive trip.
Because for Müller and his professional career at FC Bayern, the beginning of the K.-O. round of the club World Cup with the round of 16 against Benfica on Sunday evening German time (from 10 p.m. in the live ticker at T-Online): For the day after the game, everything could be over.
After the tournament, Müller will finally say goodbye to his heart’s club as a player, for whom he has played in the past 25 years and already as a young footballer.
At least there was nothing of nervousness or melancholy at Müller. At least he did not show anything and demonstratively radiated looseness. Also on the teammates, as Jonathan Tah told the press round in the hard-rock stadium after Bayern arrived in Miami.
Does the team now also play a bit for Müller and against his inevitable ending with Bayern? “Absolutely,” said Tah when asked T-Online, “Thomas is not only a German, a European football legend. We definitely play for him.”
He even asked Müller how this unusual situation now feels for him, the defender revealed. Müller replied to him that at the moment he “is not so much concerned with that, but he enjoys it here and now. And we should all do that together with him.” Because, Tah continues: “If he is gone, then we will definitely feel it.”
Until it is time, Tah and Bayern have one last common mission at the club World Cup. “He is just looking very relaxed on me,” Tah said to his current impression of Müller. “We will see it on the last day, which we hopefully hold up at the end and then say goodbye to how it will be for him.” “The thing” is of course the winner trophy of the club World Cup. That would be the ideal farewell gift for Müller.
The 35-year-old himself also commented elsewhere on his possibly very last game for the record champions. “I don’t care,” he teased in typical Müller-Art. He knew “for a long time” that it could be over at any time with his time at Bayern. “When it’s over, it’s over,” he said soberly. Playing is “fun to give everything anyway, it’s fun”.
Also or maybe even in this situation in which Müller is now with Bayern. “These win-or-go home games are always tingling,” said the club veteran. “A game with the fire. But that is what makes it appeal.” He learned that early on from his former sponsor Louis van Gaal. In such situations, he always spoke completely according to a Dutch saying of “death or gladiolus”.