|
|
You Can See That Bhaichung Bhutia Has Good Skills While Nirmal Chettri Has Improved – Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller
The German international has praised Bhaichung Bhutia after the former India skipper played his testimonial match against Bayern Munich...
11-Jan-2012 5:19:00 AM
By Rahul Bali
Getty
Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller lit up the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, with twin goals against the Indian national team in their 4-0 victory on Tuesday.
The match also saw Bhaichung Bhutia, the Indian legend, make his final appearance in the national colours and Mueller was all praise for him. He was also impressed with East Bengal’s Nirmal Chettri against whom he had come up against in his earlier trip to India.
“Your record player – Bhaichung, you can see that he is very good, good technique and good skills,” said Mueller.
“I think I played against the right defender (Nirmal Chettri) in Kolkata, he is very strong, athletic and has improved immensely from the last time I saw him,” he added.
The winner of the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup hoped that Indians would take their football seriously and improve in the years to come.
“I think there was a development but I cannot see since we played against a regional team when I last came here and now we played against the national team. Many young players now play football. Maybe in 10 years, India has a much better team.
“Three years ago I was here and now. It’s always a nice experience the people are happy to see football players.”
“The match today is bigger than the ones I played three years back because we came with the second team. Now it’s the first team and against the Indian national team. So everything is bigger. Delhi is a bigger city I think. Is that right?” he asked rhetorically.
He added the trip to India was far too short but it could have been longer had their stay in Doha not been for a week or so.
“Yes, it could have been longer but we were seven days in Qatar and we all wanna get home again. If it was not so long then we could have stayed longer. But it is how it is.”
It was after the last trip to India that Mueller made a transition from being a second team player to being promoted into the senior squad. On being asked to what good luck his second trip to India would bring, he said,” This time, I go up in my career to be a bit more famous in the world! I am happy to see my development and that the people in India take my name and shout ‘Mueller, Mueller’ so. I am happy to be here!”
Mueller believes that their immediate target on reaching Germany is to start the second leg of the Bundesliga on a brighter note and maintain their lead at the top of the table.
“We are in first place in the moment and we want to defend it. We have good chances to win the Bundesliga but it’s not easy and we will see in the next games.”
The Bayern number 25 further spoke of his ambitions to win the Euro 2012 with Germany but admitted that the competition will be tough.
“Germany has good chances I think we have a young team, we have very good technical team – fast, quick, young players and so. We are happy and proud to have these players and yes, I am looking forward to win the title. But you know there are many teams – Netherlands, Spain and Italy. I think we can win.”
The match also saw Bhaichung Bhutia, the Indian legend, make his final appearance in the national colours and Mueller was all praise for him. He was also impressed with East Bengal’s Nirmal Chettri against whom he had come up against in his earlier trip to India.
“Your record player – Bhaichung, you can see that he is very good, good technique and good skills,” said Mueller.
“I think I played against the right defender (Nirmal Chettri) in Kolkata, he is very strong, athletic and has improved immensely from the last time I saw him,” he added.
The winner of the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup hoped that Indians would take their football seriously and improve in the years to come.
“I think there was a development but I cannot see since we played against a regional team when I last came here and now we played against the national team. Many young players now play football. Maybe in 10 years, India has a much better team.
 Indian Icon Bhaichung Bhutia Bids His Farewell |
“The match today is bigger than the ones I played three years back because we came with the second team. Now it’s the first team and against the Indian national team. So everything is bigger. Delhi is a bigger city I think. Is that right?” he asked rhetorically.
He added the trip to India was far too short but it could have been longer had their stay in Doha not been for a week or so.
“Yes, it could have been longer but we were seven days in Qatar and we all wanna get home again. If it was not so long then we could have stayed longer. But it is how it is.”
It was after the last trip to India that Mueller made a transition from being a second team player to being promoted into the senior squad. On being asked to what good luck his second trip to India would bring, he said,” This time, I go up in my career to be a bit more famous in the world! I am happy to see my development and that the people in India take my name and shout ‘Mueller, Mueller’ so. I am happy to be here!”
Mueller believes that their immediate target on reaching Germany is to start the second leg of the Bundesliga on a brighter note and maintain their lead at the top of the table.
“We are in first place in the moment and we want to defend it. We have good chances to win the Bundesliga but it’s not easy and we will see in the next games.”
The Bayern number 25 further spoke of his ambitions to win the Euro 2012 with Germany but admitted that the competition will be tough.
“Germany has good chances I think we have a young team, we have very good technical team – fast, quick, young players and so. We are happy and proud to have these players and yes, I am looking forward to win the title. But you know there are many teams – Netherlands, Spain and Italy. I think we can win.”
How do you stay up with football when on the move? With http://m.goal.com –your best source for mobile coverage of the beautiful game.
Inside Goal.Com
-
Vote for your Goal.com World Player of the Week
Have your say on who you think should win Goal.com's weekly honour
-
Euro 2012 a timely respite for depressed Spain
With 24 per cent unemployment, wage cuts and little hope for improvement in the short term, the continental competition will at least take people's minds off their sad situation
-
Welbeck impresses but it's a bad day for Johnson
Ashley Young has also all but secured his place in the starting line up against France while Steven Gerrard put a good shift in. Here's how the Belgium friendly affected the England player's chances of featuring in Euro 2012
-
Five players Rodgers could sign for Liverpool
The new Reds boss was unveiled to the press on Friday and must immediately begin work on revitalising a thin squad with some additions in the transfer market
-
Lambert the latest in EPL manager merry-go-round
The Scot officially left Norwich City on Saturday to become the second new boss in June, following the appointment of Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool on Friday