Germany and Bayern Munich are mourning the loss of Gerd Muller, one of football’s greatest strikers, known throughout the game as ‘Der Bomber’, who died at the age of 75.
Muller, who joined Bayern in 1964 and was part of an era which established Bayern as Europe’s top team, was one of the deadliest forwards the game has ever seen, raising him to legend status.
Alongside club teammates such as Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeness, he helped West Germany win the 1972 European Championship and then bagged the winner, in Munich, in the 1974 World Cup final triumph over the Netherlands.
“Gerd Muller was the greatest striker we ever had in Germany,” former national team coach Joachim Loew said in 2015.
Known as the most prolific of penalty box poachers, Muller remains the Bundesliga record scorer with 365 goals in 427 games.
Muller’s single season tally of 40 goals from 1971-72 stood as a record until finally being eclipsed by Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski, with 41, last term.
After Muller ended his career in 1982, he suffered from alcoholism. His former teammates at Bayern were the ones to convince him to go through rehab.
And once recovered, Bayern gave him a coaching position at their under-23 team.
The victory over alcoholism was probably the most important in his life. “After four weeks I was cured,” he said in 2007.
“To do that in such a short time, it was quite an achievement.”
