Muller: 'Guardiola's team is always the strongest in terms of discipline'
Muller won three of 11 Bundesliga titles when Guardiola led Bayern between 2013 and 2016. Therefore, the German striker knows how difficult it is to confront the club under the Spanish coach.
"I have been waiting for this for a long time, having played for Guardiola for three seasons and can clearly see that the opponent is interested in meeting his club," he told the Bundesliga homepage. "Man City have very good players, and Guardiola's style forces opponents to run a lot. I think there are other teams that are more interesting to play against."
According to Muller, Bayern partly grasped Man City's play through a pre-season friendly match in the US. At that time, "Gray Lobster" lost 0-1 by the goal of rookie striker Erling Haaland. Muller emphasized that Bayern are playing well and sharp in the big matches this season, and is confident that they will overcome challenges with their teammates.
Muller won the Champions League twice with Bayern in 2013 and 2020 - a title that Guardiola has always missed since leaving Barca. In total, the two teachers and students won seven titles together, and Muller revealed that he changed the way he looked at the game thanks to Guardiola.
"You are influenced by the people around you every day and Guardiola is a powerful influence," said the 33-year-old striker. "He shows you a lot of things, and I'm always open-minded and try to pick out what's working for me or the team."
According to Muller, he learned from Guardiola how to choose positions, prepare for attacks and discipline. The Bayern striker explained: "The discipline in Guardiola's team is better than any team I've played in. I don't mean punctuality, that's also an important aspect, but discipline in each situation. on the field, the discipline of the players both with and without the ball."
Haaland is the most important factor in Guardiola's system having scored 44 goals in just 37 games since the start of the season, breaking many records in both the Champions League and the Premier League. However, during his time at Dortmund, the Norwegian striker did not have a good confrontation record when he lost all seven matches against Bayern.
Muller emphasized that Haaland is an outstanding striker, but "didn't stand a chance against Bayern" when playing for Dortmund over the years. The German striker revealed that he spoke with Haaland after the defeat to Man City in pre-season. Here, Haaland admitted to being relieved to say that "finally won against Bayern".
Despite facing strong opponents, Bayern still maintained a winning streak from the beginning of the 2022-2023 Champions League season. In the group stage, they won all six matches against Barca, Inter and Viktoria Plzen. In the 1/8 round, "Gray Lobster" defeated PSG 1-0 at Parc des Princes and then won 2-0 in the second leg at home.
If he continues to beat Man City today, Muller will become the third player to reach 100 Champions League victories, after Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas.
