Thomas Muller has picked between some Bundesliga and Premier League legends, with the 35-year-old heavily favouring Germany's top-flight league.
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Muller picks between legends to form a combined XIGerman only selects Kompany from Premier LeagueLikes of Ronaldo, Henry and Gerrard all miss outFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
In an interview with GOAL, the Bayern Munich legend did not hide any biases when it came to selecting the best team in a battle of Bundesliga and Premier League stars. Asked to pick between a great from each league per position, Muller opted for the Bundesliga player on all-but-one occasion. His Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany was the sole Premier League hero who made the team – beating Lucio to take one of the spots at centre-back.
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Showing loyalty to much of his old team-mates Muller selected Manuel Neuer over Petr Cech, Phillip Lahm over Kyle Walker, Kompany over Lucio, Mats Hummels over Rio Ferdinand and "an easy pick" of David Alaba over Ashley Cole to make up the defence.
In midfield, Michael Ballack was chosen in favour of Yaya Toure. Muller admitted that Bastian Schweinsteiger and Steven Gerrard was, in football terms, "a tough call, it's almost a draw. But, emotionally, it is Schweinsteiger." He added Thiago Alcantara over David Silva in his final midfield selection.
Across the front line, Muller shouted "Frerot!", meaning 'little brother' in French, to announce Franck Ribery's his selection over Cristiano Ronaldo. Arjen Robben was chosen over Gareth Bale on the right-wing and, finally, for the striker position Muller stated: "I admire Thierry Henry a lot. He was very elegant and also very, very good, but against Lewa [Robert Lewandowski], no chance."
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Who can blame Muller for staying loyal to his team-mates? The German has played at Bayern for 25 years, joining the club as a 10-year-old before finally announcing his departure at the end of this season. The forward won 13 Bundesliga titles and two Champions Leagues, amongst a host of other major honours, at Bayern, as well as the World Cup with Germany, and was never going to pick a Premier League star over a friend.