Müller magic against Shakhtar: A goal and a crucial block | OneFootball

For a brief moment, the world was upside down for Thomas Müller. He had only just managed to get on the end of Jamal Musiala's great pass with his last ounce of strength, poked the ball past Dmytro Riznyk in the Donetsk goal against his direction of flight to make it 2-1 for FC Bayern – and now the goalscorer spun and rolled briefly across the Schalke pitch. When Müller stood up straight again shortly afterwards, it was half-time and and the German record champions had turned the game around before the break, thanks in part to the veteran.

"The goal showed his quality of being there at the right moment," praised head coach Vincent Kompany. "The energy, the passion, the leadership shows. It's important that we have a good balance of experienced players and young players. We know that he always has an impact on our game."

First Champions League goal this season

It was Müller's first goal in the Champions League this season, and the 35-year-old's first anywhere for three months – and what an important one it was. After Shakhtar stunned Bayern by taking an early lead in the fifth minute, Konrad Laimer responded with the equaliser in virtually the next move.

"We're pleased," said Müller afterwards. "A match like this always has different phases. The goal we conceded caught us cold, but then we kept going and had a lot of moments through our pressing. They wanted to play out from the back but lost the ball some of the time, too. The way we scored our second goal, we could've scored several more like that."

Müller's goal means he's now scored in 16 Champions League campaigns, something only Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi (18) and Karim Benzema (18) have previously achieved. We look back at 16 Müller celebrations:

Against Shakhtar: Thomas Müller has scored in 16 CL campaigns

Thomas Müller's goal to make it 2-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk was his 16th Champions League goal in his 16th campaign. Only Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo have managed that feat before. Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema have actually even scored in 18 seasons in Europe's premier club competition. We look back over 16 Müller celebrations in 16 CL campaigns.

Goal relaxes Bayern

Müller's strike – his 55th in the Champions League – acted as a release for the dominant Bavarians, who marched on to a 5-1 thrashing and celebrated their first away win in six European outings on the road (D1, L4). The three points are also hugely valuable in the battle for the direct qualification places into the Champions League round of 16.

"It was never fun playing against Thomas Müller," admitted coach Kompany later, adding: "Very uncomfortable! It's fun working with him. We have a squad in which there are some young players who still need to make that step. And when you have such experienced players around, that's very important."

Seven players 15 years younger than Müller

Müller's role as captain from the start was particularly important in light of Bayern's growing injury list: no fewer than nine players were absent for the meeting with the Ukrainian champions in Gelsenkirchen – Donetsk can't play at home due to Russia's war. In Leon Klanac, Max Schmitt, Adam Aznou, Noel Aseko Nkili, Mathys Tel, Arijon Ibrahimovic and Nestory Irankunda, there were seven players under the age of 20 on the Bayern bench – all of them at least 15 youngster than Müller. He was particularly pleased that, like the last meeting with Shakhtar Donetsk (7-0), it was another resounding victory. "It's important that we keep going," said the forward. "It's not to be taken for granted that we stay ruthless after going 3-1 up and that the attacking players, the magicians, want to keep scoring goals. That has to be our top priority."

In that 7-0 win over Shakhtar in March 2015, Müller's goal to open the scoring was again the one that opened the floodgates. The Bavarian native even struck again to make it 4-0. Including this latest outing, Müller (91) is the current player with the most appearances in Europe's premier club competition after Luka Modrić (98).

The save: even more spectacular than the goal

It was easy to forget that the goal, complete with forward roll, was not even the forward's most spectacular moment of this match. Just three minutes after the restart, Müller was also in the right place at the back. As Valeriy Bondar stood ready to shoot right in front of the Munich goal, Müller came in from the side and got a foot in to direct the ball behind for a corner instead of into the goal for 2-2.

"He knows how important those moments are," noted Kompany. "In that moment Donetsk had a big chance. It was a very important moment." Müller saw it similarly: "The sense was that the ball's coming, it's flicked on and the opponent sniffs it and just wants the tap-in. But I stuck out a flipper and somehow the ball goes over. I actually thought the ball was going in but then it wasn't." All in all, it was a happy and crazy football world for Thomas Müller and his FC Bayern on this exhilarating Champions League evening."

All the reaction to the match against Shakhtar:

Kompany: 'We grew into the game'