Müller credits van Gaal for latest goal, defends Kompany's unconventional tactics

A glorious finish from German footballing legend Thomas Müller helped FC Bayern München seal the deal against Freiburg in their second league fixture of the 2024/25 Bundseliga campaign yesterday. For all the question marks strewn about the German record champs this year, Bayern are still off to a perfect start under newly-appointed trainer Vincent Kompany. The team has won all three of Kompany’s competitive fixtures. Kompany’s crew occupy second place in the Bundesliga table; sitting behind league leaders Heidenheim only on goal differential. 

When it came time for post-match interviews, Müller himself was placed in the position of having to comment on another one of his professional records. As he has so many times in the past, the 34-year-old brushed off all the talk. At the end of last season, Müller made clear that he absolutely did not care about personal milestones. The FCB fan block nevertheless did. An ultra banner unveiled during the game thanked Müller for “710 games, 100% for Bayern.” Müller engaged with the Ultra Kurve after the match. 

“Even though I knew it was coming, records aren’t important to me,” Müller still said when asked about his 150th goal in his 475th Bundesliga match, “I do know [some of the ultras] personally, however. I told them to work this hard so that they can get some vacation time. We have some really big plans this year.”

“I scored an exceptional beautiful goal today,” Müller continued, “technically outstanding. That’s what I enjoy. Whether that’s 710, 712 or 325 games is not so important. I went on a run that my former teacher [Louis van Gaal] called the [Marco] van Basten run.”

“When you go on a deep run, then fake out the defender with your momentum,” Müller went on when describing his goal, “then bring the ball across your body. That’s exactly what that was. Sometimes one can use something that one learned 15 years ago. Thank you, Louis!”

When it came to technics and tactics, Müller had one more question to answer. Kompany’s tactics in his third match in charge led to massive collective head-scratching across the Bundesrepublik. The squad appeared to operate without a clear structure. Correctly anticipating the headlines that would appear in the Monday morning papers, the German legend handled the matter with aplomb. 

“It’s difficult to chose among our attacking options,” Müller said, “There will certainly be analyses saying ‘No way! He played without a right back! Four attackers! Five attackers! The coach can field a team however he chooses. It’s up to us players to offer up the best we can give.” 

“We didn’t need a fixed right back,” he continued, “I was often at work defensively on the right, reacting to balls from the middle.”