Müller sees Leverkusen as Bayern's main rivals
For Bayern veteran Thomas Müller, Bayer Leverkusen are the biggest rivals in the battle for the German soccer championship.
"They drew once and won the rest. It looks like that at the moment," said the 34-year-old after Munich's emphatic 4:0 (2:0) win at Borussia Dortmund when asked whether Bayer Leverkusen rather than BVB are the team to beat on the way to the title this year. Only in the 2-2 draw in Munich in mid-September have the Leverkusen professionals not been victorious in their ten Bundesliga matches to date.
Distance maintained
Thanks to Harry Kane's treble (9th minute/72nd/90th+3) and Dayot Upamecano's goal (4th), Bayern maintained the two-point gap to the leaders from Leverkusen and increased their lead over BVB to five points. "We kept pace with Leverkusen," said a relieved Müller.
The international was able to take something positive from Leverkusen's narrow 3:2 (2:0) win at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim a few hours earlier, at least in one respect.
"I only saw the first half and after Leverkusen went 2-0 up I thought, oh, that's going well again. But suddenly it was 2:2. All in all, they at least sensed that they were vulnerable," commented Müller. Without the winning goal from Leverkusen's new signing Alejandro Grimaldo (70') to make it 3-2, Munich would have knocked the Werkself off top spot thanks to their better goal difference after their win in Dortmund.
Despite Borussia Dortmund's loss, Bayern Munich and Thomas Müller are closely following the performances of Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund and their main opponents, Bayer Leverkusen. Müller praised Leverkusen's consistency, mentioning their impressive record of nine wins and one draw in the league.
In the context of the Bundesliga standings, Borussia Dortmund's defeat against Bayern Munich meant that Thomas Müller's team maintained a two-point gap from Leverkusen, while increasing their advantage over Dortmund to five points.
Source: www.dpa.com
