BAYERN GAME
“ A goalscorer of the highest calibre “: Oliver Kahn is glad he never had to compete against Müller .
A FEW CENTIMETRES OF SPACE , THAT WAS ALL HE NEEDED
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
waists . The way he looked , I thought he wouldn ’ t last long with us .” But Maier revised his opinion in the very first training session . “ Gerd took off like a wild hare on the run , had a great shot from a standing position and was absolutely unfathomable as a striker .“ Coach Zlatko ‘ Cik ’ Cajkovski always used to keep training going until his team had won – and he always put Müller in his team . “ Der Bomber ” never lost a practice game in the 70s . Uli Hoeneß clearly remembers how things once got a bit too colourful for him and Paul Breitner in a short game of ‘ old vs . young ’. The two firebrands decided they ’ d go in defence to make sure Gerd didn ’ t get his seven or eight goals again . “ As if ”, Hoeneß said with a grin . “ Paul was lying on his backside on the left , me on the right , and Gerd was scoring goal after goal .” “ There was only one way to stop Müller , says Franz ″ Bulle “ ( Bull ) Roth : ″ You had to get to the ball before he did . But we could never neutralise him completely .“ The best feeling you could have had was ″ that he only scored three or four goals instead of seven or eight “. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge joined FC Bayern in 1974 – and would experience Müller standing in the shower looking angry if he hadn ‘ t scored or , in his opinion , had scored too few goals . During this time , the former CEO enjoyed learning at first hand . ″ The penalty area was Gerd ‘ s domain : One step forward , one step back , forward , back , forward , back – and at some point he ‘ d have a few centimetres of space , which was all he needed ,“ said Rummenigge , “ He had the ability to react like no other centre-forward in the world .” And Müller was also impressive in terms of his technique . “ His one-twos with Franz Beckenbauer were accurate to the millimetre . I ’ d say the duo were like [ fictional pranksters ] Max and Moritz for opposition . No-one could match
In his element – Sepp Maier : “ Thighs like other people ’ s waists , and he took off like a wild hare .“
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