After 163 Games, Inter Milan End Thomas Müller’s Champions League Career

Bayern Munich is out of the UEFA Champions League, and with that, one of the greatest careers in world football is also coming to an end. After playing 163 games in Europe’s premier competition, Thomas Müller has played his last game in the Champions League after Bayern was held to a 2-2 draw by Inter Milan on Wednesday.

After their first leg 2-1 defeat at home at the Allianz Arena, Bayern needed a win at the San Siro to keep this tie alive. That didn’t happen, and dramatically, Müller missed the decisive final chance of the game. But Inter keeper Yann Sommer saved his header in the fifth minute of injury time.

“We’re disappointed,” Müller said after the game. “I gave everything, we gave everything. We played against the best team in Italy, who have only conceded two goals in the Champions League before facing us.”

That’s certainly true. But part of the story is also that Bayern Munich has won all four previous encounters against Inter Milan at the San Siro. And while decimated, there were chances here tonight to get the result needed to see the game go into at least overtime.

“Football is all about details,” Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany said after the game. “When you look at how the two games went, we wouldn’t have wished for a lot different, except the goals we conceded. We knew about Inter’s strengths going forward and from set pieces – but we were also dangerous and had our chances.”

Those details were on full display in the second leg. After Harry Kane gave Bayern the lead (52’), two mistakes after corners turned the game around for the Italians. First, Lautaro Martínez (58’) equalized after a Joshua Kimmich giveaway inside the box, and then, second, Benjamin Pavard (61’) beat Min-Jae Kim to a crucial header to turn the result around.

“We gave everything to win,” Bayern star striker Harry Kane said. “We had enough chances over the two legs. Conceding two goals from set pieces today was criminal. It completely shifted the momentum. We came very close. Football is about moments; they took theirs more than we did.”

Bayern seemed defeated at this point. But a header from an impossible angle by Eric Dier (76’) equalized the score on the night. After that, it was all Bayern and there were moments in which the Rekordmeister came close.

Then, in the game’s dying moments, goalkeeper Jonas Urbig joined the attack. Cross after cross sailed into the box, and then in the 95th minute, the moment seemed to have come. A ball found Müller, but his header lacked the power and direction, and Sommer was there to end Bayern’s UCL campaign.

“He fought until the last minute,” Kompany said about Müller’s performances. “As the months go on, we’ll understand more how important be really is. We still have two trophies to fight for together. Thomas is one of the biggest legends of this club.”

There is no doubt that Müller gave everything, but in retrospect, the Bayern boss will have to answer the uncomfortable question of whether starting the 2014 World Cup winner was the right choice in the first place. Perhaps a more creative attacking lineup would have been better suited to handle Inter’s defensive lineup.

Indeed, once Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry were on, Bayern seemed more aggressive, creative, and direct in their attacking movements. Even Müller’s final chance, perhaps if Kane or Gnabry had been there, this article would have a different narrative.

Ultimately, though, Bayern is out of the Champions League. That leaves just the Bundesliga title, and with a six-point gap and just five games left, the Meisterschale is all but a formality at this point.

After last season, winning just the Bundesliga will probably be enough for the decision-makers at Bayern when they conclude from Kompany’s first year. But next season, Kompany will have to deliver in Europe. And it will not just have to be him either.

Director of sport Max Eberl and sporting director Christoph Freund will have to sell older stars and add new, fresh faces to the side. Indeed, Müller is unlikely to be the only major Bayern star to have played his last Champions League game for the club.

“When you’re at Bayern Munich, you expect to reach the semifinals and final of the Champions League,” Kane said. The Bayern star striker is right. Anything but success in the Champions League next season will not be good enough going forward.