Lisbon (AFP)
With two goals and a full game for Bayern against Barcelona (8-2), Thomas Müller was the chief pyrotechnician of the Munich armada on Friday in the Champions League quarter-finals, and makes all those who saw in him a finished player, at 30 years old.
It was he, from the 4th minute, who initiated the fireworks of the Germans against the teammates of Lionel Messi. In his characteristic gangly style, not really elegant, he called for a one-two in the box with Robert Lewandowski, and for the first time cheated Marc-André ter Stegen up close.
He found himself in the front row again for Bavaria's fourth goal in the 31st minute. On a cross from the right of Kimmich, he beat Clément Lenglet in six meters to align once again the goalkeeper of the Blaugrana.
He is also associated with two goals late in the game, with the penultimate pass on the 6th and the assist to Coutinho on the 7th.
This Tuesday night, Müller also broke the club's record for participation in the Champions League, with 113 appearances, now ahead of legend Philippe Lahm.
"Thomas Müller is unique, impossible to copy," coach Hansi Flick said this week.
- Vice-captain -
His angry jubilation on each of his goals, a cry thrown in clenched fists, spoke volumes about his motivation and his desire. Because just a year ago, everything was going badly for this native Bavarian, who handles both corrosive humor in a press conference as the ball in the opposing box.
In March 2019, German coach Joachim Löw brutally signaled the end of his international career. And at Bayern, of which he had always been a pillar, coach Niko Kovac withdrew his trust in him, saying cruelty: "Yes, if there is danger in the house, we can have recourse to him".
Kovac's sacking and the arrival of Hansi Flick on the bench offered him a resurrection. Flick reinstated him in his role of vice-captain, and made him his main relay in the field, along with Manuel Neuer.
Result: a huge season, 48 matches in all competitions, 14 goals and 25 assists!
"Thomas is a player who can lead a team and who constantly gives instructions", says of him the coach, "he has a huge experience, a big charisma, and wants to win every game".
- "We are we" -
In fact, Müller is the very embodiment of the club's motto "Mia san Mia", which literally means "We are us" in Bavarian, and condenses Bayern Munich's values of solidarity and self-confidence.
His position, which is not one, seems to have been invented only for him: Müller is never as comfortable as a free electron as against Barcelona, "false number nine", who twirls with a wing to the other, from the point to the midfield, to always be in the right place at the right time to serve his striker Robert Lewandowski, or to score himself with one of those unacademic gestures that belong only to to him, knee, back, or even out of balance.
For this strong personality, whose passion is breeding horses on his farm in Bavaria, only victory in the final will be acceptable.
"We are hungry, and we want to continue to be hungry," he warned before the tournament: "All the teams say the same thing, but Bayern choose their players for their hatred of defeat, that is what justifies that we play at FC Bayern (...) Victory is written in us ".
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