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Muller 2023: Closing on Rummenigge and Beckenbauer – the numbers behind a Bayern legend

Thomas Muller celebrates

Thomas Muller's love affair with Bayern Munich is set to continue until at least 2023 after the Germany great signed a contract extension on Tuesday.

Rumblings that Muller may consider his future at the Allianz Arena at the end of the season have now been emphatically quashed, with the 30-year-old remaining, at least for now, a one-club man.

Since making his debut in 2008, Muller – a 2014 World Cup winner – has established himself as one of the best to ever pull on a Bayern shirt.

With the help of Opta data, we have crunched the number's behind Muller's Bayern career.


CLOSING ON BECKENBAUER AND RUMMENIGGE

Muller will forever be regarded as an all-time Bayern great.

Only six players can boast more than his 521 appearances in all competitions for Die Roten, with Franz Beckenbauer his next target to overtake.

In that time, Muller has scored an impressive 195 goals. Only Gerd Muller, Robert Lewandowski and Karl-Keinz Rummenigge can lay claim to more.

Muller is equally important for his creativity and he has contributed 146 assists to Bayern's cause, meaning in total he has 341 goal involvements, contributing to a goal every 112 minutes.


ENJOYING LIFE UNDER FLICK

At times, it looked as though Muller's role under previous bosses Carlo Ancelotti and Niko Kovac was becoming increasingly isolated.

But under Hansi Flick, who signed a three-year deal last week, Muller has simply flourished.

He is one of just three players (alongside Alphonso Davies and Manuel Neuer) to feature in all 21 games under Flick and his 21 goal involvements (eight goals and 13 assists) playing for the coach is bettered only by Lewandowski's 24.

Muller has provided 16 assists in total in the Bundesliga this term – a joint record with Kevin De Bruyne after 25 rounds in the top flight.

There is still time for Muller to break De Bruyne's record of 20 assists in a single Bundesliga campaign, which he managed playing for Wolfsburg in 2014-15. 


MULLER'S MILESTONES

- Muller made his competitive debut for the first team on the opening day of the 2008-09 Bundesliga season, coming on as a substitute for Miroslav Klose after 79 minutes in Bayern's 2-2 draw with Hamburg under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

- Aged 19 years, five months and 25 days Muller made his Champions League debut in March 2009 when Bayern hammered Sporting CP 7-1. He also scored his first goal for the first team in the 90th minute.

- His first two Bundesliga goals followed in a 5-1 win at Dortmund on September 12 2009, just a day before his 20th birthday.

- Like team-mate David Alaba, Muller has won eight Bundesliga titles – his former team-mate Franck Ribery (nine) is the only player to win the Bundesliga more often.

- Muller has won 247 Bundesliga games (as many as Claudio Pizarro). Only six players have won more matches in the German top-flight, Philipp Lahm (250) is just three wins away in fourth place.

- On May 1, 2010, Muller celebrated his first hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Bochum, making him the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick for Bayern in the Bundesliga, a record he still owns today.

- His best season came in 2015-16, when he was directly involved in 25 Bundesliga goals in 31 appearances (20 goals, five assists). In all competitions, he managed 32 goals and 10 assists.

- Kovac's last game as Bayern boss, the heavy 5-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt last November, was also Muller's 500th game for Bayern in all competitions. 

- In the 4-0 victory over Dortmund in November, Muller became the first player to reach 100 Bundesliga assists since the start of detailed data collection in 2004-05.

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