'Bayern is my second home'

Gerd Mueller started on the bench in his first 10 matches but "Der Bomber" showed you can't keep a good man down by scoring twice on debut.

To begin with, a hypothetical question, given the kind of protection accorded to attacking players these days, would Gerd Mueller have bettered his 40-goal feat in a Bundesliga season (still a record)? And of 10 goals in one World Cup finals?
Let's talk about Bundesliga only. Franz Beckenbauer has been asked, how many goals I would score these days. He said 80. I tell you 80 is too many, but definitely I would score many, many more than 40 goals. If a striker owns the instinct I had, and if he knows where the goal is, than he has much better chances of scoring today than I had in the past.

You have been quoted as saying that you don't know why players can't score with your kind of frequency these days. Is it because football has basically become more defensive?
Much more important is the tactical change. In the late 60s and then in the 70s there was a defensive with a libero and a stopper and mostly both of them marked me. Today, you have four defenders in a line, and one of them is sleeping. And I would smell which of the guys is sleeping and look for this gap to penetrate the defence.

Who would you rate as the best striker in contemporary football and why? Ronaldo. Even if he has some kilos too much. But even after being overweight, he is fast like hell and he knows the fastest way to the box. Adriano is very strong, his shots are like dynamite. And one of my favorites is (Didier) Drogba. He is a special killer. You don't see him for one hour, and all of a sudden he shows unbelievable moves.

And the best player ever? Why?
Franz Beckenbauer. He had all skills. Fast, fantastic technique with both feet, perfect shooting, perfect passing; he was a playmaker as well as a good defender and a good attacker. Very good in the air, he could read a match and he knew always what would happen next. And finally he was the greatest personality on the field I ever have seen.

Does it hurt that Pele and Maradona were jointly chosen as FIFA's best of last century and not the player who has the maximum goals in the World Cup finals? Especially because no less than Beckenbauer says that Germany owe their success to Gerd Mueller.
No, it really doesn't hurt me not to be chosen to the FIFA's best player of last century. I'm really happy with the awards I got in Germany. I was honoured as the best Bundesliga player ever, and I'm very proud of this award.

Could you describe the goal that gave West Germany the World Cup in 1974?
First of all, it was a beautiful goal, I have to praise myself: Three Dutch players were around me. I start, want to trick them, but suddenly I got the ball on my left foot. I had planned to stop it with the right foot and then immediately score. Afterwards it was good luck, that I got the ball first on the left foot and from there the right one, so I could score while turning in the wide corner.

Also, the goal that beat England deep in extra-time in the 1970 quarter-final? Was that extra-special after all that happened at Wembley in 1966? For me it was no personal revenge, because I was not part of the German World Cup team four years ago. This goal became so wonderful, because it was part of a fantas tic offensive attack. Jurgen Grabowski, the right-winger, made a wide to Hennes L'hr, our left-wing. From his head the ball flew in my direction. I was only wondering why I got my foot so high to catch the ball so well in the air.

Would losing to East Germany in the 1974 finals be the lowest point of your international career?
In the moment it happened I felt so. But in the end we all became lucky. We landed in the weaker group with Sweden and Jugoslawia (Yugoslavia) otherwise we would have met Brasil (Brazil) and the Netherlands. And coach Helmut Schon got a chance to change the original team. Bonhof, Herzog, Hoelzenbein and Wimmer came in the team. We had much more competition. It was a chance for the players on the bench and a sign for all of us to give 100 per cent for the team.

In the time of international comebacks by Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Lillian Thuram, don't you think you quit international football at a relatively early age of 29?
I had decided to retire from the national team months before the World Cup, together with Wolfgang Overath and Grabowski. In the season 1973-74, I played 107 matches; can you imagine that today? Almost after each Bundesliga match we played a friendly on Sundays. I saw my family very seldom. And my daughter was asking: When uncle will show up again?

Would you say that 1970-74 were the best years for Germany?
You can trust the English papers on this after we had beaten them 3-1 at Wembley and later won the Euro 72 in Belgium: "The Germans play football from another planet, at least from another millennium," they wrote.

The last time Germany hosted the World Cup, you scored the matchwinner in the final. Do you see this team going all the way?
I don't believe in our boys. I hope they will reach the semi-finals. Could you list three teams you think can win the 2006 Cup.

First of all Brasil (Brazil), because they have the best players in the world. Second Argentina, if they play like a team. Third Italy or England, if all the top players of the Premier League are fit.

What was it like playing with George Best?
First of all, I feel sorry for him. If you have to die at 59 and suffer so much. He couldn't get control over his life. I don't have good memories with him. When I joined Fort Lauderdale, George Best was quoted like "we don't need a German striker. Now we will see, if Mueller really is an international star." Best's question was answered very soon. Eight weeks later he got fired.

You have been associated with Bayern for over 40 years.
It's my second home, my second family.