Müller on reaching the final: "We have to win the big games"

The next big step on the road to the coveted treble: with their 2-0 win over Werder Bremen in the DFB Cup semi-final, German record cup winners Bayern München have booked their place at the final in Berlin. World Cup winner Thomas Müller was Instrumental in the victory over the strong underdogs. With his two goals, the Germany international almost single-handedly sent the record champions, who are well on their way to securing another Bundesliga title, into their first final of the season. In an interview with DFB.de, the 26-year-old talks about the controversially-awarded penalty to make it 2-0, the Bundesliga run in and the imminent return of World Champion Jérôme Boateng.

Question: Mr. Müller, you have reached the DFB Cup final with Bayern thanks to that 2-0 win. Was this semi-final more difficult than you had imagined?

Thomas Müller: We’ve certainly played better games before, that was a real piece of work. But we are happy, because the final is something really special. We won 2-0, did the important thing - which was progressing. We’re delighted that we can have this wonderful experience in Berlin again. Especially for our fans and co-workers that’s always a fantastic day. And when you go to Berlin, you want to take home the trophy as well.

Question: Were Werder better than expected or were Bayern worse?

Müller: We were the better team - as always, we had more of the game. We invited Werder into the game with lots of misplaced passes and that didn’t do us any favours. It was tough today. We’ve certainly had easier wins. There were no big celebrations, but as an athlete only one thing counts: we are in the final.

Question: What exactly did your team do wrong?

Müller: Bremen did well: they were focused and didn’t just sit back in the way we’ve already seen this season. We only made things easier for them with the number of mistakes, which we don’t normally make. Particularly midway through the second half before it was 2-0, we made things extremely difficult for ourselves that way and allowed Bremen into the game. We weren’t passing it around smoothly enough to take a firm grip on the game, and we increased our ground covered stats by constantly forcing ourselves to track back.

Question: Your team hasn’t been on top-form in recent weeks either.

Müller: I don’t want to talk down our performances, but for the coming games we are hoping for something different. But it is difficult to be on top form every three days - it’s not Christmas every day. Sometimes you just have to show character and win a game like this one against Bremen. That’s what we did: we didn’t shy away from any challenge. It’s incredible how much energy the team has every three days.

Question: The 1-0 was simple stuff: Alonso corner, Müller header, goal.

Müller: Before the goal I thought I’d better try something different. I normally need a boarding pass to get as high up in the air as I was then. (laughs).

Question: The decider was your penalty to make it 2-0. Won by Arturo Vidal after a tackle from Janek Sternberg.

Müller: There have been more blatant penalties… Sternberg took a huge risk going into the tackle. In normal play it looked like a foul, but he didn’t properly catch him. It was more of a protective jump up from Arturo, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he fell without contact. It was a dive. Still, my job was to convert the penalty. If a penalty like that was awarded against us I’d certainly be taking a different tone of voice now.

Question: On Saturday, if you win in Berlin, provided Dortmund lose in Stuttgart, you can be crowned champions.

Müller: If we could choose, we would prefer to be crowned champions in front of our own fans. [Saturday, 30th April at the earliest in home game vs. Gladbach]. If possible however, I’d like it to be won this weekend. But that’s not what we’re thinking about. Seven points might be a good lead, but if you look at what’s happening in Spain to the supposed best team in the world [referring to Barcelona, who have just lost three consecutive games and thereby lost their comfortable lead at the top], then you know it’s important to stay alert and not get distracted by when and where we lift the trophy.

Question: How are you motivating yourself every three days now at the business end of the season?

Müller: We’ve had some really important weeks for a few weeks already now - the really important weeks just never stop coming. And if, like us, you keep progressing they only get more important. That’s the plan, after all. So every three days we have our own cup final to play, also because Dortmund are keeping the pressure on. So it’s not happening easily for us. But with a look at the statistics we can be more than happy with how the last few weeks have gone. Now we want to follow through, the motivation is there. But you can’t be at 100 percent every day - for Saturday’s game in Berlin we will have to gather our strength again. If every game ends in a hard-fought 2-0 win for us, then I’ll be very pleased. Even if today wasn’t a spectacular performance.

Question: Are you optimistic ahead of the deciding weeks?

Müller: Fundamentally I’m Mr. Optimism, so yeah I’m optimistic about the coming weeks as well. We need to win the big games. So far, we’re holding out well - I hope it continues like this.

Question: How important is the imminent return of Jérôme Boateng?

Müller: Jérôme is a fantastic player, but we have to give players returning from injury time as well. After all, we want him to stay fit.

Question: Manager Pep Guardiola unusually sharply criticised the Bayern team after the 3-0 win against Schalke.

Müller: That was a nice change. (laughs) we might read the newspapers, but we don’t let it influence us. We - the manager and the team always hold intense, analytical discussions.

Question: After this game he praised you specifically, saying you are "a big talent".

Müller: He’s right there. I can only return the compliment. He’s brilliant as well.