German football mourns the death of legendary striker Gerd Müller

Published on : 08/15/2021 – 16:53

It was the Munich club, hoisted by Müller to the top of Europe three times (1974, 1975 and 1976), which announced the news on Sunday, mourning a striker who “made history”, in club as in selection.

“It’s a sad and dark day for Bayern and all their fans. Gerd Müller was the greatest striker there has ever been, a personality of world football,” said the president of the Bavarian club. Herbert Hainer, in a statement. In parallel, the website of the Bavarian club had displayed the colors black and white, as a sign of mourning, just like its logo on social networks.

Affected by Alzheimer’s disease since February 2015, a disease made public by Bayern a few months later, Müller was recently accommodated in a specialized establishment, his only recent positions having come from his wife, sometimes to describe his weakness – “he sleeps most of the day” – sometimes to ensure that Müller “wouldn’t complain” about losing his record for goals scored in a Bundesliga season.

A sign of fate, this historic mark of 40 goals scored in 1971/72 fell at the end of May 2021, beaten by the Pole Robert Lewandowski, star center forward of the “Rekordmeister”. On Instagram, the latter very quickly paid tribute to his predecessor, by posting a photo of Müller, accompanied by a symbol of prayer, hands joined.

The “bomber of the nation”

Müller “is one of Bayern’s greatest legends, his performances remain unmatched to this day and will forever be a part of the great history of Bayern and German football,” said Oliver Kahn, former Mannschaft goalkeeper, l national team, and current manager of the Munich club.

Germany will long remember this vivacious striker, excellent in anticipation, explosive although tough, even “short on legs”, and with exceptional statistics. In 607 matches played in the Bavarian jersey, he will have scored 566 goals, including 365 in the Bundesliga, a record that still stands.

But beyond Bavaria, where he won three Champion Clubs’ Cups and four German league titles in particular, it is within the national team that Müller wrote his legend, that of the imperturbable FRG of the 1970s, crowned during the Euro-1972 and the World Cup-1974, after third place in the 1970 World Cup.

Competitions on which he will have left his mark, scoring 14 goals in two Worlds (record which held until in 2006, beaten by the Brazilian Ronaldo with 15 goals, then by the German Miroslav Klose in 2014 with 16 goals), and illuminating the final of Euro-1972 with a double in Brussels against the USSR (3-0). Such exploits earned Müller the nickname “Bomber der Nation”, the “bomber of the nation”.

In a short statement posted on Twitter, the German national team paid tribute to its “Bomber”. “The DFB [Fédération] mourns one of the greatest German footballers of all time. Rest in peace Gerd Müller. Our hearts go out to his wife and family, ”said the Federation.

With AFP