Thomas Müller

Thomas Müller (born 13 September 1989) is a German footballer who plays for Bayern Munich and the German national team. Müller plays as a midfielder or forward, and has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an attacking midfielder, second striker, centre forward and on either wing. He has been praised for his positioning, team work and stamina, and has shown consistency in scoring and creating goals.

A product of Bayern's youth system, he made his first-team breakthrough in the 2009–10 season after Louis van Gaal was appointed as the main coach; he played almost every game as the club won the league andcup double and reached the Champions League final. Müller scored 23 goals in the 2012–13 season as Bayern won a historic treble; the league title, cup and Champions League.

Müller earned a call-up to the German national team in 2010. At the 2010 World Cup he scored five goals in six appearances as Germany finished in third place. He was named the Best Young Player of the tournament and won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer, with five goals and three assists. At the 2014 World Cup he played a major role in helping the team win the trophy, scoring five goals and receiving the Silver Boot as the tournament's second top goalscorer, and was also named in the World Cup All Star XI.

Club career
2012–13 season
Müller's first Bundesliga goal of the season came over 2. Bundesliga champions SpVgg Greuther Fürth in Bayern's 3–0 victory on 27 August 2012. On 2 September, he netted a brace as Bayern thrashed southern rivals Stuttgart, 6–1, in front of 71,000 at the newly expanded Allianz Arena. Müller helped Bayern achieve a record-breaking start to the league season, when he netted a brace over newly promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf on 20 October in their 5–0 victory, recording Bayern's eighth successive win. Three days later, he scored his first Champions League goal of the season, netting from the penalty spot, as Bayern defeated Lille 1–0 at the French side's newly built Grand Stade Lille Métropole.

On 13 December, after his good run of form in the first half of the Bundesliga season, Müller pledged his allegiance claiming he was at home in Munich and that "There is no club to step up from when you leave FC Bayern ... there almost is no better club." Six days later, he signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at the Allianz Arena until 2017. At the winter break in the Bundesliga, he had nine goals and seven assists in 16 league appearances and a further three goals in the Champions League. Giving him a total of thirteen goals halfway through the season, including his strike against Borussia Dortmund in Bayern's win in the 2012 DFL-Supercup. Müller scored his first goal in Bayern's second game back from the break in a 2–0 away win over VfB Stuttgart. Müller tapped in his fifth goal of the Champions League campaign on 2 April, completing a 2–0 first leg defeat of Juventus in the quarter-finals, ending the Italian club's 18-match unbeaten record in Europe. On 23 April 2013, Müller scored two goals and gave one assist in 4–0 win against FC Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final in the Allianz Arena. On the return fixture, Müller scored a header as Bayern won 3–0 and gave Barcelona their biggest defeat ever in the UEFA Champions League, with a 7–0 aggregate score. Müller then went on to play an important role in Bayern's 2–1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the final. On 1 June, Müller scored a penalty in the final of the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal. Bayern won the cup 3–2 to complete an historic treble. Müller scored 23 goals overall in the season (including all competitions), netting 13 in the Bundesliga, one in the Pokal and an impressive eight in the Champions League, he also added one in the 2012 DFL-Supercupwhich Bayern won 2–1. This topped off Müller's highest scoring season to date.

2013–14 season


Müller began the 2013–14 season by scoring in seven of Bayern's 12 pre-season games. On 5 August, Müller scored a hat-trick as Bayern won 5–0 in the team's 2013–14 DFB-Pokal first round game against Schwarz-Weiß Rehden. In Bayern's opening 2013–14 Bundesliga fixture, Müller missed a penalty for the first time. Seconds later, the save from the penalty flicked the hand of Álvaro Domínguez which resulted in another penalty which David Alaba converted. After this Müller stated "I am still happy to take penalties, but I think David Alaba is the main man for spot kicks for now." On 25 September, against Hannover 96in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, Müller scored twice taking his cup tally to five goals in just two games. On 28 September, Müller scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over VfL Wolfsburg, giving him his first goal in the 2013–14 Bundesliga. Müller scored his first 2013–14 UEFA Champions League goal of the campaign and Bayern defeated Manchester City 3–1 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 2 October. On 17 May 2014, Müller scored Bayern's second goal in a 2–0 extra-time defeat of Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final, giving die Roten the tenth league and cup double in their history. Müller finished as the tournament's top scorer with eight goals in five appearances.

2014–15 season


After the 2013–14 season, Müller signed a new contract keeping him at Bayern until 2019 and rejected a contract offer fromManchester United. Müller played in the DFL-Supercup, which was Bayern's first match in the 2014–15 season. Bayern lost the match 2–0. His first goal of the season was against Preußen Münster in the DFB-Pokal on 17 August 2014. Then in the opening match of the Bundesliga, on 22 August 2014, Müller scored the opening goal of Bayern's Bundesliga season against VfL Wolfsburg. Bayern went on to win the match 2–1. On 11 March 2015, Müller scored two goals against Shakhtar Donetsk in a 7–0 win to draw level with Mario Gómez as the top scoring German player in UEFA Champions League history.

International career
Euro 2012


Müller started all ten of Germany's qualifiers for Euro 2012, as the team qualified for the finals with a 100% record. Müller provided assists for seven goals, three of which came in a 6–2 win over Austria in September 2011 which secured Germany's qualification for the finals with two games to spare. He scored three times in the campaign, two goals coming in a 4–0 win over Kazakhstan in March 2011, the third in a 3–1 win over Turkey in October of the same year. Müller was included in Joachim Löw's squad for Euro 2012, where the Germans were knocked out in the semi-finals by Italy.

2014 World Cup
Müller scored his first World Cup qualifying goals on 22 March 2013, scoring Germany's opener and final goal in a 3–0 away win over Kazakhstan. He also scored in the 3–0 victories over Austria and Faroe Islands to give him four goals in Germany's successful qualification campaign.

On 16 June 2014, in Germany's opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Müller scored the first hat-trick of the tournament and was named man of the match in a 4–0 win against Portugal. In addition, he was also the target of Pepe's headbutt in the 37th minute, which resulted in the Portuguese defender being sent off. He denied that he had "overplayed" the situation leading to the red card. On 26 June, Müller scored the only goal of the final group match against the United States to help the Germans win Group G and dispelled fear of collusion between German coach Joachim Löw and American coach Jürgen Klinsmann to play to a draw as had occurred in 1982.

On 8 July, he scored Germany's opening goal in the 7–1 semi-final defeat of Brazil. This goal was Germany's 2000th goal in its history. Müller has now scored at least five goals in each of his first two World Cups, making him only the third player to do so (after Teófilo Cubillas and teammate Miroslav Klose). With the goal, he has tied Helmut Rahn with 10 World Cup goals. On 11 July, Müller was named on the 10-man shortlist for FIFA's Golden Ball award for the tournament's best player. Having played a major role in the team's World Cup triumph, Müller received the Silver Boot as the tournament's second top goalscorer with five goals, and was also named in the World Cup All Star XI.

Style of play
Müller's role can be described as an attacking all-rounder, a player able to play in a variety of forward positions. As he came through the youth system, he was seen primarily as a midfielder, but since breaking into the first-team he has been used in more forward roles. Both Bayern Munich and the Germany national team usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and Müller is most often part of the three attacking midfielders behind the central striker. He can play in any of the attacking midfield roles but usually plays in the center for Bayern Munich, and on the right for Germany. He has been used as an out-and-out striker on occasion.

Müller has been praised for his maturity, pace, technique, awareness and positioning. He has been particularly noted for his composure; Germany manager Joachim Löw said he is "impervious to pressure" and former Bayern manager Louis van Gaal said he has tremendous mental strength. A consistent scorer and creator of goals, he describes himself as a player who can find gaps in the opposition defence but not particularly good at dribbling or one-on-ones. Müller describes this role as Raumdeuter, a term that translates to "interpreter of space" (cf. Traumdeuter, "dream interpreter"). During 2014 World Cup, Germany manager Joachim Löw stated that Müller "is a very unorthodox player and you can't really predict his lines of running, but he has one aim and that is 'how can I score a goal?".

Personal life
Müller was born in Weilheim, Upper Bavaria, and grew up in the nearby village of Pähl, which became the centre of media attention during his World Cup exploits. His parents are Klaudia and Gerhard, and he has a brother, Simon, who is two and a half years younger. He married his long-time girlfriend Lisa Trede, a semi-professional equestrian who works on a farm, in December 2009 after being engaged for two years. In June 2011 he became an ambassador for YoungWings, a charity that helps children who have suffered bereavement or trauma.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/