Ultimate Bayern Munich dream team: Muller, Lewandowski & Robben but no Kahn or Breitner

Manuel Neuer found his way to Munich in 2011 under controversial circumstances. The Schalke youth product turned his back on the club of his heart to move to Bayern, something that didn't endear him to the Schalke faithful.

In terms of sporting reasons, however, it was exactly the right step. Neuer has been guarding the Bayern goal for 11 years now and has won the Bundesliga 10 times and the Champions League twice.

After Philipp Lahm's retirement, he also took over the captain's armband and thus joined a long list of great Bayern captains.

But even before Neuer there were some great keepers in the club's history like Sepp Maier and Oliver Kahn. They drew the short straw when it came to picking the ultimate Bayern Munich goalkeeper, though.

In many ways, Neuer redefined the role of a sweeper-keeper and modernised the way goalkeepers were involved in how a team plays.

And that is why he makes it into this team ahead of two stellar keepers.

Matthaus is arguably one of the greatest footballers of all time and spent a total of twelve years at Bayern, divided into two stints.

In 1984, he moved from Borussia Monchengladbach to Munich to aid the Bavarians' chase of their first domestic title since 1981.

Four years late, he moved on to Serie A, which was one of the best leagues in Europe at the time and attracted the best players. Matthaus was a huge success at Inter and even won the Ballon d'Or.

In 1992, he returned to Munich and won the 1996 UEFA Cup, but he was dramatically denied a Champions League winners medal in 1999 by Manchester United's miracle act in injury time.

The name Franz Beckenbauer inspired awe during his time. In fact, it still does.

The history of Bayern would have been very different if not for him. From 1959 to 1977, the "Kaiser" was an integral part of their squad and helped bring the club to the pinnacle of European football.

Beckenbauer led Bayern to European Cup victory three times in a row - from 1974 to 1976 and has four European Cup winners medals in total with Bayern.

He was one of the greatest defenders the sport has seen, playing as a libero who would also contribute in attack.

Later he shaped the club's future as president.

Beckenbauer rightly stands as one of the best footballers the game has ever seen.

The last cog in our ultimate dream team's three-man backline is a player who had a key role in the club's sucessful phase in recent times.

David Alaba has won the hearts of fans over the years and won numerous titles in a Bayern shirt.

A few weeks after his 16th birthday, Alaba moved to Munich from his youth club Austria Wien and after a six-month loan to Hoffenheim, he became a permanent fixture at Bayern.

His record in the red jersey: an incredible 28 titles. He served the club in an exemplary fashion, as a left-back, central midfielder and as a centre-back.

Though his move to Real Madrid in 2021 was not very popular with the fanbase, he makes it into our list ahead of Jerome Boateng among others.

Yes, Philipp Lahm turned into a defensive midfielder only in the final years of his career, having been one of the best full-backs in the world previously.

But fact is that Lahm was such an intelligent player that he excelled as a midfielder at Bayern, bringing stability and control to the team. And given his legendary status among fans, there can be no Bayern dream team without the Munich native.

Lahm came to Bayern when he was 11 and worked his way up through all the youth teams. Even a serious injury during a loan to Stuttgart could not stop his progression.

In 2011, Lahm became club captain and led his team to the treble in 2013.

He eventually ended his career in 2017 at the age of 33 and is without a doubt a certified Bayern Munich legend.

Although Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were by no means identical as players, their career progression at Bayern mirrored each other a lot.

Both made their professional debuts for Bayern in the same game, both shaped the club's destiny for more than a decade and both were also integral parts of the 2014 World Cup-winning German team.

When Lahm became captain of the club, Schweinsteiger became his deputy.

Like Lahm, Schweinsteiger was not a midfielder at first. He was a winger who turned into an all-action midfielder.

Unlike Lahm, Schweinsteiger did not end his career with Bayern.

In 2015 he moved to Manchester United, before one last adventure with the Chicago Fire ahead of his retirment in early 2020.

If the club's fans invent a song about you, then you've probably done something right as a player. And Arjen Robben did a lot right at Bayern Munich.

The Dutchman moved to Munich from Real Madrid in 2009 and immediately became a player who made a difference.

Absolutely deadly on the right wing, his signature move of cutting in and shooting with his strong left foot led to the same result time and time again; goals.

Unfortunately, Robben was injury prone, and he was also a tragic figure in the 2012 Champions League final at Munich, missing a penalty in extra-time.

He redeemed himself when he helped the club win the Champions League title against Borussia Dortmund in 2013, though, scoring the decisive goal in the 89th minute and earning legendary status among the fans.

Thomas Muller is a Bayern Munich man through and through. There are no two ways about it. Born in Bavaria, he has been with Bayern for ages and is a player the fans really identify with.

Muller is special in every respect. He is not one of the glamorous footballers who command great following. But he is already a brand in his own right, in an understated way.

The versatile attacker is maybe not the most refined player, but his intelligence and tenacity set him apart. Former Bayern manager Louis van Gaal once said: "Muller always plays."

And so did most coaches after the Dutchman, making the 32-year-old one of the club's most important players in recent history.

Even a certain Stefan Effenberg can't keep him out of this list.

What Arjen Robben was on the right wing for many years at Bayern, Franck Ribery was on the left. Together they formed one of the best wing duos in the world, and were nicknamed 'Robbery".

But the Frenchman, a bit of a journeyman before Bayern, found more than just success in Munich. He found a home. The fans adored Ribery, who came to Munich in 2007 and stayed till 2019.

At that time, Uli Hoeness put €30 million on the table for the tricky winger - a significant sum for a player who had not been one of the game's main stars until then. But over the years it became apparent that every cent was justified.

Ribery, an unconventional and spirited attacking player, managed to become a cult figure at the club.

In 2013, He narrowly missed out on being named World Player of the Year even though he was voted Europe's Footballer of the Year that same year.

Ribery said goodbye to Bayern after twelve years as a legend - after 423 games, 123 goals, 181 assists and 22 titles.

There is no Bayern dream team without including German football's greatest goalscorer of all time.

During his time, Gerd Muller was the best striker in the world, putting on numbers that only Ferenc Puskas or Alfredo Di Stefano had previously achieved. He was aptly nicknamed "The Bomber".

Muller played a total of 584 games in a Bayern jersey, scoring an incredible 531 goals. The fact that he also shot Germany to the World Cup title in 1974 only embellished his legend.

The attacker was an insatiable goal machine - a trait that only fits very few in football history.

On August 15, 2021, one of the greatest legends of Bayern and all of German football died at the age of 75.

There have been quite a few really good strikers in Bayern's history.

Uli Hoeness, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Giovane Elber, Roy Makaay, Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni and Mario Gomez have all played for the club. But there can only be one name here to accompany Gerd Muller and that is Robert Lewandowski.

The Pole matured into a world-class striker during his eight years with Munich and even broke the record of the great Gerd Muller. In the 2020-21, he managed to score 41 goals in the Bundesliga, breaking the club icon's record of 40 goals that stood for almost 50 years.

And he would probably have beaten Muller's record tally of 365 Bundesliga goals if he hadn't switched to Barcelona this year.

Lewandowski was voted World Player of the Year twice, and he also fulfilled his dream of winning the Champions League with Bayern.

Even though there was a bit of animosity in the way he left the club this summer, he is likely to go down in Bayern history as the "Gerd Muller of modern times".