Müller: Wow, that’s really interesting. I have never heard about that before. You never stop learning!
DFB.de: If you score six goals in the lower leagues, you have to buy a crate of beer. Did you have to do anything like that?
Müller: Not really. We were very professional and had the next game on Saturday to prepare for. There were no celebrations, though I didn’t sleep much the next night.
DFB.de: What’s your prediction for Saturday then? 7-2 again?
Müller: Definitely not. Since Viktor Skripnik has been manager, Bremen are a lot more solid. But my tip is 2-0 for my beloved FC.
Dieter Müllerplayed in the Bundesliga from 1973 to 1986, scoring 177 goals in 303 matches. His most successful years came with 1. FC Köln, with whom he won the Double in 1978. In both 1977 and 1978 he was joint top scorer with Gerd Müller. He also played for Kickers Offenbach, VfB Stuttgart and after spell for French club Bordeaux, return to Germany to finish his career with 1. FC Saarbrücken. Müller also made twelve appearances for German national side, scoring nine goals and featuring at the 1976 European Championships and 1978 World Cup Today, he runs his own football school.
Special fixtures, special times. On DFB.de we remember classic Bundesliga stars and memorable fixtures from the weekend fixture list. Ahead of the Matchday 26 showdown between 1. FC Köln and Werder Bremen on Saturday (15:30 CET), Dieter Müller recalls his six goal stunner, still a Bundesliga record, in an interview with historian Udo Muras. On 17th August 1977 FC beat Werder 7-2, with Müller outshining a world record, something the 60 year old first found out from DFB.de.
DFB.de: Herr Müller, how many times a year are you reminded of your six goal game?
Dieter Müller: Around four or five times, I would say. There’s also the TV which mentions it sometimes, like recently in a piece about my teammate Heinz Flohe, now dead, who set up some of the goals, or when they celebrated 50 years of the Bundesliga.
DFB.de: We’re now in the 52nd Bundesliga season and your record still stands. How did you manage it?
Müller: I had a fire in my belly that day, Bremen’s Horst-Dieter Höttges was an extremely hard opponent and it stirred something inside me. On top of that, there was a slight drizzle which suited me perfectly. Then everything just came together. For me everything was perfect, for Höttges it wasn’t quite such a good day. I could have even scored two more; I can still remember the chances I threw away.
DFB.de: You scored a hattrick after 32 minutes and then managed another three goals in the second half. Another feature was that you scored four headers, something that had never been done before.
Müller: They all came from set pieces. Heinz Flohe and Herbert Neumann’s service was the best. Quite simply we had a very good team back then and would go on to become champions.
DFB.de: How was it afterwards? The media must have hounded you, no?
Müller: Yes, I had to give a few more interviews than usual. I was very happy, but I never knew I had managed something so spectacular that after 50 years it would still be a record in the Bundesliga. There were some great strikers back then, though only 14 have managed five goals in a Bundesliga game. I never quite managed that, I could scored four, or six the one time, but never five.
DFB.de: Media coverage was also a lot different then. When the DFL started looking for material for the “50 Years of Bundesliga” DVD, they discovered that there isn’t any TV footage from the game. Or do you know something they don’t?
Müller: No, there really isn’t any. I did, however, receive photos of each goal from a newspaper. They are in the brochure for my football school.
DFB.de: Can it be done again do you think? A double hattrick?
Müller: It’s difficult to say. If things go well for a particularly good team- I’m thinking mainly of Bayern here- then it’s possible. In my day football was quite different, it wasn’t as athletic, but it was harder and also more creative. There aren’t players like Flohe or Overath anymore.
DFB.de: Speaking of athletics, did you know before your game, a world record was set?
Müller: Excuse me? Please tell me more!
DFB.de: Many spectators had arrived early to watch some athletics before the kick off in the Müngersdorfer Stadion. The German 4x 1500m relay team, with Thomas Wessinghage in it, beat a 32 year-old world record. Then you went and trumped them with your six goals!
Müller: Wow, that’s really interesting. I have never heard about that before. You never stop learning!
DFB.de: If you score six goals in the lower leagues, you have to buy a crate of beer. Did you have to do anything like that?
Müller: Not really. We were very professional and had the next game on Saturday to prepare for. There were no celebrations, though I didn’t sleep much the next night.
DFB.de: What’s your prediction for Saturday then? 7-2 again?
Müller: Definitely not. Since Viktor Skripnik has been manager, Bremen are a lot more solid. But my tip is 2-0 for my beloved FC.
Dieter Müllerplayed in the Bundesliga from 1973 to 1986, scoring 177 goals in 303 matches. His most successful years came with 1. FC Köln, with whom he won the Double in 1978. In both 1977 and 1978 he was joint top scorer with Gerd Müller. He also played for Kickers Offenbach, VfB Stuttgart and after spell for French club Bordeaux, return to Germany to finish his career with 1. FC Saarbrücken. Müller also made twelve appearances for German national side, scoring nine goals and featuring at the 1976 European Championships and 1978 World Cup Today, he runs his own football school.
