Gerd Muller, legendary Bayern Munich and Germany forward, has died aged 75. While statistics will never be able to fully capture the magic of one of football's greatest ever. We pay a little tribute here, by bringing to you the best numbers from his immense career.
365
No one has scored as many goals as Gerd Muller did in the Bundesliga. Not even close. He scored a remarkable 365 goals in just 427 matches. Behind him are Robert Lewandowski with 278 and Klaus Fischer with 268.
68
Muller scored 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany. That goals per game average of 1.09 is the third best among players to have scored more than 50 goals in the history of international football (only Sandor Kocsis' 75 in 68 with a gpg of 1.10 and Poul Nielsen's 52 in 38 with a gpg of 1.37 are above him on that parameter)
40
Muller's Bundesliga record of most goals in a season (40) stood for 48 years -- until Robert Lewandowski broke it last season, with 41.
7
In his first year in the German top flight, he got 15 goals in 33 games, his worst career return. Over the next 14, he finished top scorer 7 times. No one has won the Bundesliga golden boot more often. In fact, he scored 30+ goals for 12 consecutive seasons. He was also the top scorer in the European Cup 4 times with Bayern.
10
Muller is the last player to score 10 goals in a single World Cup (1970). Only two players have ever scored more - Just Fontaine (13, in 1958) and Sandor Kocsis (11, in 1954)
14
Muller scored 14 World Cup goals -- a mark that stood as most all-time from 1974 to 2006 when Ronaldo (Nazario) overtook him. He's now third in the all-time list behind Ronaldo (15) and Miroslav Klose (16).
1
Gerd Muller is the only man to score in a Euro final (1972), a World Cup final (1974), and a European Cup final (1974 and 1975).
85
Muller scored 85 goals for club and country in 1972. That was a calendar year scoring record which stood for 40 years, till a certain Lionel Messi hit 91 in 2012.
566
Only two people have scored more goals for a single club than Muller, who scored 566 for Bayern Munich -- Pele, who scored 643 for Santos, and Lionel Messi, who scored 672 for Barcelona.
(Stats courtesy: ESPN Stats and Information Group)