Thomas Müller is the most successful German football player of all time, having won 33 titles to date. Given his successes, FC Bayern’s veteran doesn’t need to hide from the greatest players in his sport. Even world stars like Lionel Messi or Zinedine Zidane cannot match many of Müller’s outstanding numbers and statistics.
The 34-year-old Bayern veteran recently extended his contract again early until 2025 and wants to celebrate further successes with his Munich team. He acknowledges with a mixture of satisfaction and humility that Müller has long been one of the most highly decorated footballers of all time.
He is happy about his footballing life’s work so far, such as winning twelve German championships: “The most important thing for me is not the statistics, but the shared experiences and moments that I am able to experience with my team, the club and the fans,” said the offensive all-rounder, who currently has 456 Bundesliga appearances, in an interview with “Sport Bild”.
From a purely statistical perspective, Thomas Müller is even better off in many areas than world stars like Lionel Messi or Zinedine Zidane. Numbers that only play a limited role for Müller: “The magic also lies in the aesthetics and elegance. I once read that I have better scorers than Zinedine Zidane. But I’m not kidding myself: for the magic of the game and the reputation of football, magicians like Messi or Zidane are a completely different ball game than me.”
Müller to Messi: “No one is fooling him”
For Müller, who has scored 145 goals in the German top flight, one thing is certain: “Hard facts like goals or titles are certainly an important factor. But in the end, football is more than that.”
Thomas Müller himself knows that Lionel Messi, who was once again voted world footballer, has played in a completely different sphere in recent years.
“From the outside it often seems as if he stands around a lot, but he does it in the right spaces in order to then ignite the turbo and become a goal threat. Nobody can fool him,” said Müller about the Argentinian world champion whom he has dueled in many big games over the last 15 years.
The last time the two faced each other was last year in the Champions League, when FC Bayern eliminated Messi’s then club Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 and 2-0 in the round of 16.