(Feature)Mueller: Bayern can win all competitions in 2018

By Oliver Trust

BERLIN, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Showing up only wearing sportive socks and leaving shoes in the locker room says a lot about the current mood of Thomas Mueller.

The Bayern Munich striker is turning up for an interview right after a training session humming a song expressing his happiness.

"Bayern can win all competitions we take part in," he said.

The 28-year-old is expecting a prosperous 2018 for his club and the German national team, he told Xinhua in a recent interview in advance of Bayern Munich's German Cup clash against Borussia Dortmund this Wednesday evening.

Style can be a message.

"I am excited about winning titles," the Bavarian-born striker commented. "I am crazy about the feeling winning titles is giving you."

Mueller said the upcoming new year could deliver several opportunities to win trophies with the national team and his club.

"2018 is a great challenge for the two teams I am part of," Mueller emphasized.

Muller admitted, the change from coach Carlo Ancelotti to Jupp Heynckes gave the team a motivation boost, but he is far from blaming only Bayern's former coach for a turbulent last year.

"We had several games under Ancelotti the team was responsible for disappointing results, not the coach," Muller said.

Despite the teams, responsibility regarding a poor performance the return of Heynckes changed the teams' attitude. "Jupp Heynckes is far from a magician, but as soon as he returned, we started to win."

2013 treble winner Heynckes is gifted with an instinctive feeling for all people and every single member of his squad.

"We went on with rotation under him but got along much better. We have a team on the pitch working together. I don' t know why, but under Ancelotti, it did not work that well. Changing the team, which was necessary due to the many games we had, caused additional problems we could not get under control," he added.

Mueller said it was essential to beat Paris St Germain in the second group game in Munich. The 2014 world champions called the victory over Paris a statement but insisted "we haven't crushed Paris to bits and pieces. They had a great chance during the game to score when the result was still far from 3-1."

Mueller said he still disagrees with many pundits overestimating results such as the 3-1 victory or the 3-0 loss in Paris.

"We lost the first game, yes. But our performance in general, wasn't that bad. They did not whitewash us as we didn't whitewash them in the second game," Mueller stressed.

The Bayern striker mentioned a corner record of 18-1 "for us in Paris".

Football is a result game and he does not accept a "narrow-minded black or white view". Bayern were very effective in the second match, Mueller said. "We scored three goals out of four or five chances."

It gave his team a lot of confidence to win the game against Paris. But Mueller denied, the game delivers hints regarding the outcome of the 2018 Champions League campaign.

After the disappointing game in Paris and the club decided to change coaches. The team knew "it will be for us to get things back into place. A new coach means for a team having to take responsibility and do more for team-work."

Nevertheless, to change the coach "paid off for the club" as the "team is working well as a team", Mueller said.

Despite his side having achieved an eleven point lead at season halftime, "we are far from crushing every side in the national league. Don't forget we won our last three games just by 1-0." The team is aware many things still need improvement.

Bayern have gained stability after a wired season start. "When we talk about a wired first season half we have to talk about Borussia Dortmund too. They gained a lead of five points after seven rounds of matches; now we are eleven points ahead. Nobody would have had the guts to predict a turnaround like that back in September," Mueller commented.

Facing Dortmund this Wednesday in the German Cup "is a special challenge as Dortmund is still a strong side and won its last two games in the league and has a new coach."

In Wednesday's game Bayern have the advantage to play at home having achieved many good results lately, "but fans will still see two sides of quality on the pitch." Despite Dortmund recovering Mueller still expects his side to dominate the game, "but we have to be careful."

When it comes to the Champions League, everything can happen. "We know there are maybe stronger teams in the competition having to face each other in the round of the last 16."

Mueller said Bayern are accepting the role as the favorites against Besiktas Istanbul, but "especially in the away game we need to be fully concentrated."

Mueller said Bayern have the quality to win the competition but "many little things are deciding about games."

For a while then Mueller is talking about his turbulent last year, experience and confidence in his abilities helped to get through harder times, he commented.

"The last year hasn't always been perfect for me, but it was not as bad as many thought. I know, and the team knows we could have done better. Especially last season we could have achieved more than 'only' the national title," Mueller said. Enditem