Bayern Munich Must Ensure Thomas Muller Bounces Back from His Euro 2016 No-Show

From the very beginning of his international career, Thomas Muller has been a key player for the Germany national team, and his performances have directly correlated with their success.

In 2010, he broke into the first team and was hugely influential for Germany at the World Cup, contributing to a third-place finish for Joachim Low’s inexperienced and injury-riddled side. Then 20 years old, he was crowned top scorer of the tournament and was the youngest player to amass five goals or more at a World Cup since Pele.

At Euro 2012, Muller was poor. He looked off his game and neither scored nor assisted a single goal. Germany advanced to the semi-finals but never looked at their best: Three group-stage wins by a single goal and a quarter-finals win against Greece were followed by a 2-1 loss to Italy in a match in which the Azzurri were in control from an early stage.

Then at the 2014 World Cup, Muller was again heroic: He scored five goals for a second consecutive World Cup and also gave three assists, just as four years prior. Germany were crowned world champions.

Thomas Muller has done more whining to officials than actually play football at #EURO2016

— Gianni Verschueren (@ReverschPass) July 7, 2016

This summer, the European Championship followed the script for Muller as the same tournament four years prior. He was off his game and grew more and more frustrated as the tournament progressed.

He ended the Euros goalless with just one assist (against Northern Ireland), and his attitude visibly worsened with each game. By the end of the tournament, he looked like Cristiano Ronaldo at his worst, shooting from almost anywhere and harassing the referee over any potential disagreement.

For a player who just had the most successful club campaign of his career, Euro 2016 amounted to a sizable piece of humble pie. Aged 26 …

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