Thomas Müller scored his 500th scorer point for Bayern on Saturday in the 8-0 win against Darmstadt – and even more. A detailed look into the kicker database shows, among other things, under whom, for whom and against whom he particularly shone.
Thomas Müller, more dangerous than anyone else. imago images (3)
Müller collected most of his 502 scorer points since Saturday in the Bundesliga. His 145 goals in the upper house are unmatched by any other current Bundesliga professional, and his 202 assists are by far the league’s best since assists were recorded for the 1988/89 season. Only three other Bundesliga professionals have a three-digit number of assists recorded: Franck Ribery (121), Marco Reus (113) and Andreas Möller (109), Müller has already left far behind.
In the Champions League he is at least the best German goalscorer and the best German assist provider. He only failed to score a point for FC Bayern in the two matches at the Club World Cup and the two games in the UEFA Super Cup.
Under no other coach did Müller record as many scorer points as under Pep Guardiola: 126. On average, during the current Man City coach’s engagement, he was directly involved in an FCB goal every 87 minutes. He also scored in three figures under Heynckes.
Under his current coach Thomas Tuchel he is directly involved in a goal every 100 minutes; his performance was worse under Louis van Gaal (114 minutes), Niko Kovac (120) and Carlo Ancelotti (131). Only under two short-term coaches was the rate even less presentable: Under interim coach Willy Sagnol and Tuchel representative Zsolt Löw, he remained completely without a scorer point in one game each.
Müller also had his most successful season as a scorer under Guardiola: in 2015/16 he had 45 points scorer in 49 competitive games for Bayern. In all three seasons under the Catalan he broke the 40 points scorer mark. Also noteworthy: In eleven seasons, Bayern’s record field player recorded both a double-digit number of goals and a double-digit number of assists.
Werder in particular should be happy if Müller ends his Bundesliga career: he has already been directly involved in 33 goals against Werder, 13 times as a goalscorer and 20 times as a provider. He provided 19 of 20 assists in the Bundesliga – no other player has so many assists against one club in the top flight.
The foreign club against which he collected the most points is FC Barcelona: in nine duels with the Catalans, he scored eight goals and provided two assists. However, he was significantly less successful against the Catalans’ big rival, Real Madrid. In eight matches with the Royals, he managed neither a goal nor an assist for a goal. No other club has he faced so many times without being directly involved in a goal.
Müller gave the most goals to a good friend: Ron-Robert Zieler, with whom he became world champion together in 2014, had to accept nine goals from the FCB professional. In second place is Müller’s teammate Sven Ulreich, who, like Felix Wiedwald and Diego Benaglio, had to fetch the ball out of the net eight times after the 34-year-old scored.
However, the celebratory player was less successful against the former Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz, whom Müller was unable to overcome in nine duels. Against no other keeper has he played so many games without ever scoring.
From 2014 to 2022, Müller had a congenial partner at his side in Robert Lewandowski: he scored 64 goals, 48 of them in the upper house alone, which is by far a league record. Second in this regard is Franck Ribery’s 22 assists for Arjen Robben. Müller also acted as a preparer for himself: three times he converted a penalty that he had previously taken himself.
Lewandowski not only benefited from Müller, Müller also benefited from Lewandowski. The Polish international provided 18 preparations for the German, only the long-time FCB winger consisting of Franck Ribery (21) and Arjen Robben (22) served Müller more goals. On the other hand, no preparer is noted for 21 hits; the respective opponent laid them on him in one way or another.
We know that he can do it with his right, and that he can also do it with his left and with his head. If necessary, Müller also maneuvers the ball over the line with other parts of his body: on matchday 33 of 2009/10 he scored the 1-0 in a 3-1 win against Bochum with his chest, in the second cup round of 2013/ 14 in the 4:1 against Hannover, the left upper arm helped in the 1:0.
In 342 competitive games for Bayern, Müller didn’t score a point, but he did in 334. He recorded exactly one scorer point in a game 206 times, 93 times two, 32 times three, once four and twice even five scorer points: in the 5-0 win in the first round of the 2013/14 DFB Cup against BSV SW Rehden (3 goals, 2 assists) and on matchday 21 of the 2014/15 Bundesliga season in the 8-0 win against Hamburg (2 goals, 3 assists).
If Müller is directly involved in a goal, Bayern’s chances of winning are excellent: 295 of 334 games were won when he collected at least one scorer point. When he was directly involved in at least two goals, the opponent only managed a draw in four out of 128 cases.
2023-10-29 10:01:17
#Müller #milestone
