Gerd Muller was nicknamed ‘Der Bomber’, this is with local reference because in Germany, when you score a goal with a really hard hit, they say you have bombed a goal. Gerd Muller got this nickname because of the sheer power and finishing with which he scored goals.
Born on 3rd November 1945, in the town of Nordlinger, West Bavaria, West Germany in a post WW2 society, Gerd Muller grew up playing street football. He got drafted to his first club TSV Nordlinger at just the age of 12.
Muller moved to Bayern in 1964, where he made his Bundesliga (a german league) debut a year later. He had a prolific career with Bayern. In his club competitions with Bayern, he won the German top flight’s leading scorer seven times – sharing the prize twice – between 1967 and 1978. The UEFA Euro 1972 and 1974 FIFA World Cup winner hit 30 or more Bundesliga goals in a campaign on five occasions, and set a single-season record that stood for 49 years by registering 40 league goals in 1971/72. A four-time Bundesliga and four-time DFB Cup champion, he also lifted the European Cup three times with Bayern between 1974 and 1976 – scoring in the first two finals.
Müller is still the all-time top goal scorer in Bundesliga history, having scored 365 goals in 427 league matches. He also won the accolades like the Ballon D’or ( player of the year) and Germany’s player of the year.
For the West German team, he was the part of one of the most prolific and impactful West German team which won the 1972 European championship and the 1974 FIFA World Cup along with teammates like Beckenbauer, Netzer, etc.
For West Germany, Muller scored 68 goals in 62 international appearances.
In the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Muller was the top goalscorer of the tournament, scoring 10 goals and West Germany finished at the third place after they were defeated 4-3 in the semifinal by Italy.
The 1972 European Championship was a turning point as the West German team had 6 players from Bayern Munich FC and under their manager Helmut Schön became the first West German team to have won the tournament.
In the Group stage of the European championship, they were unbeaten in their group which had teams like Poland, Turkey and Albania. In the quarter finals, the West German team defeated England 3-1 in the first leg at the Wembly stadium and the second leg ended in a goalless match, which saw West Germany advancing to the semi-finals for the first time. West Germany defeated Belgium 2-1 in the semi-finals and defeated the Soviet Union 3-0 in the finals to become the European champions. Gerd Muller was the leading goal scorer with 6 goals.
In the 1974, West Germany were favourite as they were hosting the World Cup. The hosts were in the Group-1, along with Chile, Australia and East Germany. West Germany lost just one match in the group against their communist neighbours and won the rest to secure qualification to the second round. In the second round, they won the match against Yugoslavia by 2-0, in the next match against Sweden resulted in a 4-2 victory and in the last group match against Poland, Gerd Muller’s lone goal gave the host nation a victory and secured place in the finals. The 1974 World Cup final was a much-awaited fixture as the opponents, the Netherlands were a prolific team with talented players like Johan Cryuff. In the finals, the host conceded an early goal, but were able to equalize soon after and Gerd Muller provided the winner, which saw the hosts, West Germany win the match 2-1 and add a second world cup to their silverware.
West Germany became the first team to win the European championship and the World cup simultaneously.
Soon after, Gerd Muller announced his retirement from international football. He continued to play for the club, but eventually retired and started coaching the youth team at Bayern Munich.
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