Bayern want to keep Bundesliga as boring as possible, says Muller

FC Bayern München made a clear statement in their pursuit of a fourth consecutive league title when they beat Borussia Dortmund 5-1 in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash. With two goals and a strong performance, World Cup winner, Thomas Müller, played a big part in their success, and he sat down with DFB.de to discuss his role.

Mr Müller, what do you think was the difference between the two sides in the game against Dortmund?
It was definitely important for us to go 3-1 ahead straight after half time. It obviously didn’t do much to make the game more exciting, but it was good for us. We played well in the first half. The bad news for us was that we conceded straight after going 2-0 up. It was very annoying, as a 2-0 half-time lead would have been a great position for us to be in. Dortmund were always in the game at that stage, but we cemented our position fairly quickly after the break, and that’s exactly what you want to do when you’re on the pitch.

Dortmund were particularly good at the start.
They weren’t bad at any stage. We just made the most of our chances. It goes without saying that they showed us what they’re capable of. They have great players in their ranks, but on this occasion we were simply better. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Your first goal came from a fantastic pass from Jérôme Boateng…
Dortmund attacked very high up, with their centre backs occasionally coming up to the half-way line. It obviously wasn’t easy for us to play between the lines because there wasn’t much space. As a result, there was a lot of space behind the defence. Jérôme took the ball, looked up and saw me looking at him. I ran into the space, as you have to do sometimes when you’re a striker. The pass came and took the defenders out of the game because it was so well timed. I saw the goalkeeper coming out the corner of my eye and I knew he wouldn’t want to handle it outside of the area, so I was able to take it past him and score.

You put the penalty away to the right.
The corner was free for me. It was good to get another opportunity to score. After missing in Mainz, I was pleased to get another chance so soon to show that I can put them away.

So what does this result mean for the Bundesliga?
It means that FC Bayern are in a great position after eight games. For the neutral, it could obviously be more exciting, but there’s no reason to talk about a title win at this stage because anything can happen. You have to win the games first. We decided the game against Augsburg in the 90th minute and did similarly against Hoffenheim. We don’t get gifted any wins.

How alarming is Bayern’s dominance for the league?
Others can be the judge of that. I play for Bayern and I want to win games. When we don’t win, nobody says, “You’re a great player for keeping the league interesting.” Instead, we face criticism. With that in mind, we want to keep the league as boring as possible.”
•Culled from www.dfb.de