Mario Götze’s time at FC Bayern was marked by titles – but the 2014 World Cup hero in Munich never really became a defining figure. In an interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de, Götze reveals which Bayern icon impressed him most in terms of football.
Götze sang the praises of his former Bayern comrade Thomas Müller. “If you see how long he’s been there, what he’s achieved, how long he’s been playing at this level, including internationally, how many international players he has, and so on. That alone speaks for his quality,” he said Eintracht star.
Müller also managed to re-develop his “skill set” and “correctly adapt” his qualities to football, which has become “much faster and more physical” over the past ten years, Götze praised his long-time teammate at Bayern and in the national team.
But: In Götze’s private ranking of the best footballers he has ever played with, Müller does not take the top spot. “For me the best player was Franck Ribery, who also came third in the Ballon d’Or back then,” the 31-year-old recalled of his start at FC Bayern in 2013.
At that time, Ribery only came third in the world footballer vote behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, although the Frenchman won the treble with Bayern and was also voted Europe’s Footballer of the Year. A freestyle that was sharply criticized, especially in France and Munich.
Messi and Ronaldo were simply in a league of their own, said Götze. “But Franck was definitely in the top three back then.”
FC Bayern: Götze is not the star he hoped for in Munich
Götze moved from BVB to FC Bayern in 2013 – it was one of the most discussed transfers in Bundesliga history, which also became public a few days before the Champions League final between Munich and Dortmund at Wembley.
With FCB under Pep Guardiola, Götze won the championship three times and the cup twice. However, the high-quality technician in Munich did not become the star player he had hoped for. In 2016, Götze went back to Dortmund, where he didn’t reach his old form either.
It was only at PSV Eindhoven that the Rio world champion regained the fun of football, and in 2022 he returned to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. Since then he has been a top performer with the Hessians.
And in the future? Götze is particularly interested in the USA – “whether with or without football”, as he said in an interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de revealed. He could easily imagine a commitment to the MLS at the end of his career. “Just to understand the culture, how they think about sport and football,” said Götze.
You can see the entire interview with Mario Götze here on the RTL Sport YouTube channel.