Bayern Munich Confirm World Cup-Winning Legend Gerd Müller Is Suffering From Alzheimer’s

Alan Duffy

6th, October 2015

4 Comments

One of the greatest strikers of all-time, ‘Der Bomber’ Gerd Müller is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Bayern Munich, the club where he became a goal-scoring legend, announced the sad news on Tuesday, just a month shy of the great man’s 70th birthday.

Bayern chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, another great German striker, said:

Gerd Müller is one of the all-time greats of world football. Without his goals, Bayern Munich and German football would not be what it is today.

There will probably never be another goalscorers like Gerd, yet despite all his successes, he was always very humble and reserved, which particularly impressed me.

He was a fantastic team-mate and is a friend. Gerd will always enjoy a place in the Bayern family.

After he ended his playing career, he brought his experience as a coach of youngsters to the club, helping define the likes of world champions Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller, and we are also grateful to him for this.

“We would therefore like to ask for respect for him and his family. Gerd, for whom the values of friendship and fair play were very important, deserves for us to be respectful of his illness and respect his and his family’s private sphere.

Müller bagged an incredible 398 goals in 453 appearances for Bayern on the way to winning four Bundesliga titles, three European Cups and one Cup-Winner’s Cup. With the national side, the goal-poacher won the 1972 European Championships before starring in West Germany’s 1974 World Cup-winning success, including netting the winning goal in the final against the Netherlands. Overall, Müller bagged 14 World Cup finals goals, a record he held until 2006 when Ronaldo nabbed his 15th. Not too shabby!

Lightning-quick in the box and lethal in the air, Müller truly was one of the best of all-time in his pomp. Let’s hope the treatment he is now receiving for the condition can give him and his family the best quality of life possible.

Here’s a rather nice video compilation of some of his best goals…

(Video: Goalss)

Posted in Bundesliga, International football, Newsnow, Retro, Videos

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4 Comments

  1. What4 says:

    Very sad news. Deserves more credit as a player.

  2. Ron says:

    Damn, such a crazy disease. World-class athlete still in great shape and his brain is going. And then some fat, smoking, drinking bloke lives to 90 with no issues. NOT FAIR!

  3. Mitch says:

    Not to sound too daft or over the top. But maybe all the heading of the heavy leather balls back in the day is possibly a contributor to his condition?

  4. Geraldo says:

    One of my football idols when growing up, he breezed his way to 10 goals in the Mexico 1970 World Cup, nabbing two hat-tricks in the process and scoring the goal that eliminated defending world champions England . He wasn’t a great footballer by his own admission but put the ball at his feet in the 18 yard box and you got results, time after time after time. Also remarkably prolific in the air for one so diminutive, often outjumping central defenders who seemed to be twice his height to score some memorable goals with his head. I’m really saddened at this news.

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