GERD MULLER 1970

“And what,” enquired Bayern Munich coach Tschik Cajkovski when presented with his new recruit in 1964, “am I supposed to do with this weightlifter?”

Short, squat and with tree trunks for thighs, 19-year-old Gerd Muller didn’t have a typical footballer’s build. Nor did he particularly have the skill set.

The only thing Muller could do on a football pitch was score goals. He fired 564 for Bayern and a scarcely credible 68 in 62 matches for West Germany, including 10 at the 1970 World Cup to bag the Golden Boot.

Only Poul Nielsen (52 goals in 38 games for Denmark from 1910-25) has a better international scoring rate than Muller’s 1.10 per game.

His midair volley in the 1970 win over England was typical of Muller’s instinct, sensing indecision from the Three Lions’ stand-in shot-stopper Peter Bonetti. Right place and right time. Always.

“That tournament was even more important for me than 1974,” the striker later recalled.

Der Bomber had arrived.