Gerd Muller died at the age of 75 years, Sunday, August 15, 2021. The football world also mourned because Muller was one of the best footballers ever.
Muller, who has above-average abilities, must have received many individual awards while still actively playing. One of the individual trophies that Muller has won is the Ballon d’Or in 1970.
The first time Muller’s name was nominated for the top three Ballon d’Or trophies was in 1969. Because he led Bayern Munich to win the German League and Muller himself was tapped as the tournament’s top scorer with 30 goals at that time.
However, it is very unfortunate because at the 1969 Ballon d’Or trophy award ceremony, Muller was only able to occupy the third position. At that time, the Ballon d’Or was won by Gianni Rivera who led AC Milan to win the Champions League and Intercontinental Cup.
Der Bomber-Muller’s nickname- just won the Ballon d’Or trophy the following year, namely in 1970. Uniquely, in the 1969-1970 season, Muller actually failed to lead Bayern Munich to defend the German League title. At that time, Die Roten – Bayern’s nickname – was only able to become runner-up.
Even so, in the 1969-1970 season, Muller again emerged as the top scorer of the German League, this time with a score of 38 goals. In addition, Muller also displayed an impressive performance with the West German National Team at the 1970 World Cup.
In the tournament, Muller listed himself as the top scorer with a score of 10 goals. However, it is very unfortunate because the West German national team’s steps were stopped in the semifinals after being defeated by Italy.
Fortunately, in the match for the third position, Germany could beat Uruguay as a consolation. This became one of the factors in Mulle’s success in winning the Ballon d’Or trophy in 1970.
Muller beat England’s Bobby Moore and Luigi Riva (Italy) in the race for the Ballon d’Or. At that time, Muller was considered to have better achievements than Riva who led Cagliari to win the Italian League as well as become the top scorer with 21 goals and brought the Italian national team as runners-up to the 1970 World Cup.
Muller’s achievement, which was to become the top scorer in the German League and World Cup, was considered better than his two competitors. Muller also won the first and last Ballon d’Or in his career. Now, Muller was resting in peace.
