Bundesliga's Dramatic Final Day Looms and Mueller Says Goodbye
Sometimes in football, as in life, things don't truly hit you until they're over. Last Saturday, the day’s highlight was arguably the Thomas Müller farewell to Munich, his last game in the Bavarian capital for FC Bayern. In keeping with Müller's larger-than-life personality, this was an XXL goodbye, full of emotion, appreciation, traditional Weissbierduschen, beer showers, and raucous laughter, including a slightly dark joke. It also had a somber timbre as there was a match that halted for a few seconds while a guard of honor was formed to salute a player leaving a game. However, this was no ordinary exit. In those few seconds, Mia San Mia, We Are Who We Are, became Mia San Müller. Everyone said thank you to the man who has, more than anyone else in recent history, come to personify FC Bayern.
Müller is the essential local hero brought up just outside Munich in the community of Pähl. However, at the same time, this wonderfully off-the-cuff footballer possesses an almost universal platform and appeal. On Saturday afternoon, there were two notable fans on the U-Bahn wearing the special-for-the-occasion No. 25 shirt with Müller's name emblazoned on it. Both, in their mid-20s, confessed they had no real memories of watching their beloved club without Müller -- part football creator, part comedian -- as the centerpiece of it all.
You can try to dissect his legendary career purely by numbers and come away thoroughly wowed. Müller is, after all, Bayern's Rekordspieler with exactly 750 appearances in all competitions and 502 in the Bundesliga. On Saturday, when Manuel Neuer's expert stagecraft ensured it would be Müller hoisting the coveted Schale, it was his 13th such lift -- a record, of course. It also took his number of major honors won for club and country to 34, the joint most ever by a German, together with former Bayern teammate Toni Kroos. Mueller, like countless other players, have worked their butt off for their accomplishments. Breaking records and crushing expectations is certainly no small feat. What’s more, Mueller and his international colleagues, like most notably the newest addition to Cincinnati FC, prove that success can happen anywhere and at any time. The legacy is timeless, no matter where or how it begins.
