Champions League defeat a thing of past: Thomas Muller

Lviv (Ukraine), June 8 (IANS/RIA Novosti)-

Thomas Muller said that he has banished the memory of the painful Champions League defeat. Have his team-mates done the same?

Ahead of his country’s Euro 2012 campaign, Germany’s attacking midfielder Thomas Muller said on Friday, he had banished the memory of the Champions League final defeat to Chelsea.

Muller was one of eight Bayern Munich players in the German side, to taste last month’s bitter loss on penalties, which came after the 22-year-old had appeared to win it with a header seven minutes from time.

Didier Drogba equalised for the Londoners, before sealing the trophy with the deciding penalty.

“Of course, with Bayern we have a season behind us, that looked good up to a point,” Muller said, referring to his team also making the German Cup final, where they suffered another defeat, that time to league winners Borussia Dortmund.

Losing the Champions League final at their home stadium the Allianz Arena “doesn’t make you happy”, Muller said.

“But it doesn’t affect me now. This changes so quickly in football. That was two weeks ago,” he said.

The Germans join Spain, as the chief favourites for the Euro 2012 title, but must first escape from the so-called ‘Group of Death’ with Portugal, whom they face on Saturday, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Muller has 32 goals in 106 appearances for Bayern, and 10 goals in 27 games for his country. He starred in all 10 of Germany’s qualification games.