eca100 3 s 586 ccccb   dpa 099

Germany-football/Munich/Mueller/
1ST LEAD
German football saddened by illness to striker legend Mueller
By Manuel Schwarz, dpa =

Munich (dpa) - German football generations past and present on
Wednesday expressed sadness over the news that Bayern Munich legend
and national playing icon Gerd Mueller has Alzheimer's.

Bayern said Mueller was receiving treatment for the illness and that
no official celebrations for his 70th birthday on November 3 would be
held.

"Without the goals of Gerd Mueller Bayern Munich would not be where
it is today," former team-mate and fellow playing great Franz
Beckenbauer told N24 television.

Current national team player Thomas Mueller said he was moved by the
news of the illness.

"Gerd is a great idol for me," he told Bild newspaper. "When I joined
the (Bayern) amateur side as a young player I got to know him and we
got on great from the beginning.

"He gave me tips on how I as an attacking player should move in the
penalty area. I am still very grateful today for this."

Germany national team coach Joachim Loew also said he was saddened to
hear the news of Mueller's illness.

"Gerd Mueller was the greatest striker we ever had in Germany. He has
an incredible goal ratio which speaks for itself. He is a striker we
will never see again in today's football," Loew said in Dublin at a
news conference ahead of his team's Euro 2016 qualifying match
against Ireland.

"This news has had a major impact on me but now is the time for his
privacy to be observed and it is best to make as little comment as
possible."

Mueller was Germany's all-time leading goalscorer until Miroslav
Klose broke his record at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The man Germany nicknamed "the bomber of the nation" scored 68 goals
in 62 games for West Germany, including the winner in the 1974 World
Cup final when the hosts defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in Munich's
Olympic Stadium.

He was leading scorer at the 1970 World Cup with 10 goals and voted
European footballer of the year that year.

Among Mueller's many exploits, he won the league title four times,
the European Cup three times and was the Bundesliga's top scorer
seven times, scoring a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games.

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called  Mueller "one of
the all-time greats" of the game.

"Without his goals, Bayern Munich and German football would not be
what it is today," he said.

"There will probably never be another goalscorer 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 leaving Bayern in 1979 after 15 years at the club, Mueller
ended his playing career with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

He then returned to Bayern as a coach where he had been most recently
working as an assistant trainer with the reserve team.

"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," Rummenigge said.

"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."

# Notebook

## Note to editors
- adds comments by Germany coach Loew, byline

* * * *
The following information is not intended for publication

## Editorial contacts
- Reporting by: Barry Whelan
- Editing by: John Bagratuni
- Tel: +49 30 2852 31472; <international@dpa.com>

dpa bwh bag


071341 GMT Okt 15 

