A tough week for Thomas Müller ended with his club side recording a 3-1 victory over Schalke in Gelsenkirchen. The World Cup winner spoke to DFB.de after the match to explain what things have been like for him in recent days.
Question: Mr. Müller, you were the only Bayern player to be involved in the game against France and in the squad for the postponed match against the Netherlands. Was it nice to return to some sort of normality yesterday?
Thomas Müller: It was certainly important to be playing football again. It was fantastic to be back out there on the pitch. It’s what we enjoy doing – we want to have fun but also to enable others to have a good time.
Question: You started the match despite what you’ve been subjected to recently...
Müller: The players have been looked after by the DFB and their respective clubs. I don’t think that any of us have been severely impact by what happened. It’s important to keep looking forward, even though what happened was horrible.
Question: Back to football. Schalke employed a back five and tried to hit you on the counter. That’s not a new ploy, right?
Müller: Opponents always make it hard for us. We’ve played against sides using that tactic a lot recently. I don’t know whether supporters enjoy watching that sort of performance, but obviously it’s important that the opponents do what they think will help them get something from the match. We have to work hard for every victory in the Bundesliga.
Question: Would you say the victory came about more as a result of hard work than flowing football?
A tough week for Thomas Müller ended with his club side recording a 3-1 victory over Schalke in Gelsenkirchen. The World Cup winner spoke to DFB.de after the match to explain what things have been like for him in recent days.
Question: Mr. Müller, you were the only Bayern player to be involved in the game against France and in the squad for the postponed match against the Netherlands. Was it nice to return to some sort of normality yesterday?
Thomas Müller: It was certainly important to be playing football again. It was fantastic to be back out there on the pitch. It’s what we enjoy doing – we want to have fun but also to enable others to have a good time.
Question: You started the match despite what you’ve been subjected to recently...
Müller: The players have been looked after by the DFB and their respective clubs. I don’t think that any of us have been severely impact by what happened. It’s important to keep looking forward, even though what happened was horrible.
Question: Back to football. Schalke employed a back five and tried to hit you on the counter. That’s not a new ploy, right?
Müller: Opponents always make it hard for us. We’ve played against sides using that tactic a lot recently. I don’t know whether supporters enjoy watching that sort of performance, but obviously it’s important that the opponents do what they think will help them get something from the match. We have to work hard for every victory in the Bundesliga.
Question: Would you say the victory came about more as a result of hard work than flowing football?
Müller: We knew that it was going to be tough out there. We deserved to win the game, although the manner that we went about it probably wasn’t best suited to the prime time slot! We performed well but it’s annoying to have conceded a goal.
Question: Dortmund lost on Friday, which means that yesterday’s win saw you extend your advantage at the top of the table.
Müller: It’s nice to have an eight-point advantage of the season for sure. Their result gave us further motivation going into the match.
Question: You could claim your place in the next round of the Champions League with victory over Olympiacos on Tuesday…
Müller: That would be nice for sure. We always aim to achieve our goals as quickly as possible.
