Munich - One final, two Bundesliga clubs, 22 gladiators: These players will determine the outcome of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League decider between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium on 25 May.
bundesliga.com outlines the careers and key facts of the protagonists.
Career Stats
Another born-and-bred Bavarian, Thomas Müller, like his namesake, the great Gerd Müller, is fast becoming one of the most important players to represent FC Bayern Munich and the German national team. Joining the club in 2000, he worked his way through the youth ranks and the reserve side to make his Bundesliga debut in August 2008, just short of his 19th birthday. He then received his first taste of Champions League football the following March in a 7-1 victory over Sporting Lisbon. It was in the following campaign, however, under previous coach Louis van Gaal that his star truly began to rise. He didn’t miss a single Bundesliga game, scoring 13 goals and assisting eleven, as Bayern won the Bundesliga title and the DFB Cup. He also missed just one game in the Champions League, where Bayern reached the final, only to be beaten by Inter Milan FC. This season he has been in perhaps the best form of his career, scoring another 13 and laying on eleven assists as Bayern became Bundesliga champions for the 22nd time, but his focus will now be on winning the title that has twice eluded him. As well as defeat in 2010, Müller will not have forgotten last season’s final, when he opened the scoring but then had to watch on helplessly as Bayern were beaten by Chelsea FC on penalties.
The 2009/10 season marked not just his breakthrough at club level, but on the international stage too. He went to the 2010 FIFA World Cup with just two appearances for die Nationalmannschaft to his name, but ended up with five goals, three assists, the Golden Boot and the Young Player of the Tournament award, as Germany reached the semi-finals. In total he has 13 goals in 41 appearances for his country, and there are surely plenty more to come.
Champions League key facts
• With eight goals, Müller is FC Bayern’s top scorer in the Champions League this season. Only Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski (ten) and Real Madrid CF’s Cristiano Ronaldo (twelve) have scored more in the competition.
• Müller has scored a goal every with every four shots on goal he has had this term, giving him a better goals-to-shots ratio than Ronaldo (every seven) and FC Barcelona striker Lionel Messi (every five).
• He is the only player in the Bayern team to have scored in a Champions League final after his headed effort against Chelsea last May.
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