Thomas Müller: Holger Badstuber about Bayern’s part of the ex-colleague

Mr. Badstuber, your long -time teammate Thomas This Saturday, Müller is on the pitch for the last time as a professional of FC Bayern in front of a home crowd in Munich. What will the club be missing when Müller goes in summer?
Where should I start? Thomas Müller is a unique player and an identification figure of FC Bayern. He shaped the club like a few before him. With his joke and his Bavarian down -to -earthness, he has changed how the club is perceived. Thomas made FC Bayern more likeable in the eyes of many. Maybe that’s one of his greatest performance. But with his kind, he not only worked outwards, but also inwards.

You have more than seven years as a professional together with Müller in Munich spent. What role did he have within the team?
He was very appreciated, also because he took pressure from the team by taking responsibility early on the pitch. With his humor he brought a certain ease into the cabin. He also moderated medial unrest or kept away from the team.

How do you mean that?
Thomas not only understood football, but also the game around it. He knows how to use the media, with his sayings, with his kind. Many in the team were grateful when Thomas naturally stood in front of the press after a defeat.

Müller was a professional in Munich for 17 years, he made more than 500 Bundesliga games for the Bavaria. How do you replace someone?
That is hardly possible. Thomas is one of the big players in this club, a legend. One person alone will not be able to close the gap he leaves.

It sounds like they thought it was a mistake that Bayern did not offer him any further contract.
I believe that he could still have a value for the team. But those responsible will have thought about their decision. However, they should have been communicated differently.

To what extent?
The way the farewell became public, this back and forth, whether it can or should stay, the different signals, that was not ideal. The association would have had to clarify in the past. With the hesitation you opened the gate for speculation and then only reacted. That looked a bit unhappy. Thomas deserved another end after everything he did for the club.

You already know Müller from the time in the youth area of ​​the FC Bayern. Can you still remember the miller from back then?
He has always been the Thomas who just wanted to kick. He has tried many positions. At some point at 15 or 16 he made a jump. At that time he started finding his unorthodox playing style. Thomas moved differently in the pitch than everyone else. His position did not exist before, and over the years he has reinvented the game a bit.

Together they also trained with the second team of the club under coach Hermann Gerland. How did she both shaped this time?
At that time we became men. Hermann Gerland is a grinder, a coach with a hard hand. The years have been good with him, he prepared us for everyday professional life.

Is it true that Müller and her almost left the club at that time?
Ralf Rangnick wanted to bring both of us to TSG Hoffenheim. Maybe there would have been a change if Hermann Gerland had not intervened. He said Uli Hoeneß that it would be a mistake to give us. That he trusts us to make a breakthrough at Bavaria. He nasty for us. He took a risk because in the previous years there were hardly any players from the offspring in Munich to make the leap to the professionals.

They then made their breakthrough under coach Louis van Gaal.
We were lucky. You not only need talent for a career in football, you also have to meet the right people at the right time. Van Gaal was someone like that for us, a real gift.

Van Gaal was considered authoritarian in his appearance. Didn’t his species intimidate?
No, but of course he was a respect. Thomas and I were young, but he immediately gave us the feeling that he gives us a chance. We used them. In the following years we celebrated some successes with the team, won the title and perhaps contributed to the fact that the image of FC Bayern has changed.

Because there was little drama with them?
So you could express it. There was no Hollywood FC with us. We have no internals through with us, we did not get any public disputes. We were different, a new generation. We didn’t adjust it for it, we were just. And I think many were able to identify with that.

Müller and they played the 2010 World Cup and the European Championship 2012, they made it together in 2012 to the final of the Champions League. Then their careers developed in different directions.
I always had to struggle with serious injuries. Thomas has managed to be more serious.

A cruciate ligament tore them twice. When Müller won the Champions League with Bayern in 2013 when he celebrated the World Cup title in Brazil with the German national team the following year, they were injured. If you look at Müller’s career, do you sometimes think: that could have been my career?
I treat Thomas everything, he deserved it more than. With his loyalty to the club, he embodies values ​​that have not only become rare in modern football. His career is exceptional. I don’t compare myself to him.

Did you never wonder what would have been possible without the injuries?
I am aware that there would still be a lot of potential for me. But I stopped thinking about the past in this way. Of course I had bad luck, but that’s a risk of this sport. Nevertheless, I put a good career. I was a regular at my favorite club, I stood on the pitch with amazing kickers, I won several titles. So what should I be sad about?

How did you manage to make your peace with the many injuries?
I don’t know if I will ever make my peace with it. I still had a lot in my career. But time helps to accept things, to accept them. It is now clear to me that the setbacks have shaped me as a person. During this time I learned a lot about the football business and about myself as a person. This helps me today. I’m still a young person with many destinations in life.

You have known Thomas Müller for more than 20 years. How tight is your connection after your player career today?
What connects us to this day are the emotions and experiences that we have shared. It is a feeling that is difficult to describe. It has to do with familiarity. We have known each other since the youth, we grew up together. If we see each other again after a long time, this feeling is back immediately. It will probably never disappear.