Thomas Müller missed the first few games under national coach Hansi Flick due to injury, but on his first appearance he scored the game-winning goal against Romania. Unusual runs like the one before the 2:1 winning goal sometimes put his coach on the alert.
Until the 81st minute against Romania, it looked as if the winning streak of national coach Hansi Flick (three victories to start with) would be snapped – it was already after nine minutes – but then Thomas Müller was once again in the right place. The Bayern pro, who had come on as a 67th-minute substitute for Timo Werner and was making his first international appearance under Flick, scored from a corner kick to make it 2-1.
Müller’s problem with the free space
Müller was first on his way out to force a short execution of the corner, but then reoriented and positioned himself at the second post. The right decision. “I sometimes have a bit of a problem, which is sometimes a very good thing, that I’m a bit freer on the move – at least that’s what I think I have to do,” Müller told the RTL microphone after the game.
This freedom is not something that national coach Flick particularly likes to see: “We have a little story there, when Thomas is out at the corner kick, he really has no business there.” And Müller also recalled again that this free behaviour had already put his former club coach on “alert” at FC Bayern. “Then I broke off the attempt to play short and then went to my position.” Niklas Süle cleared the space ideally, Leon Goretzka extended perfectly with his head – and Müller? He was delighted with his 40th goal in his 107th international match: “Yes, then I pushed it in quite well, it was awesome. “
Müller “feels” connection with the fans
After his goal, Müller made out an “explosion” among the 25,000 fans at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. The midfielder also explicitly thanked them for their support, despite being behind at the break. “You could feel the connection,” Müller thought.
Müller also attributed the fact that this explosion was possible to the DFB team’s new self-image. “That we know when we fall behind that not everything we did well before has to collapse. That we can continue to trust each other,” was decisive for the 32-year-old. “And that’s very nice at the end, when the result also adds up. “