Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho pours cold water on hype surrounding Germany’s Thomas Muller

Thomas Muller

Jose Mourinho has quelled the hype surrounding Germany forward Thomas Muller by claiming ‘he’s yet to be really tested’ despite netting a hat-trick in his sides’ demolition of Portugal in their opening World Cup fixture.

The Bayern Munich striker starred as Die Mannschaft took control of Group G and continued his excellent run of form in major tournaments but Chelsea boss Mourinho claimed he has yet to really prove himself against a more rigid defence as oppose to Portugal’s disjointed rearguard who were hampered by Pepe’s first-half dismissal.

“I would like to see Muller up against a compact defence,” he told Yahoo Eurosport. “That would test him. Portugal were far too weak. There are plenty of teams at this World Cup who defend far better, are much tighter and better organised.”

Muller, who has been linked with a summer move to Manchester United, scored 13 goals in the Bundesliga last term and was one of the stars of the 2010 World Cup, picking up the Golden Boot and Young player awards as Germany made it to the semi-finals. Having set himself well on his way to emulating those feats this time around in Brazil, Mourinho did praise the utility forward.

“He’s incredibly dynamic and has a unique goalscoring instinct, and he finds room on the field that nobody else knows about,’ he added. ‘But I still think that, even with Muller, Germany don’t have a real forward in their team.”

He wreaked havoc as soon as Portugal were reduced to ten men and will be hoping to continue his rich vein of form when Joachim Low’s side face Ghana on Saturday.

With 13 league goals and ten assists Muller was one of only 15 players to reach double figures in both goals and assists across Europe’s top five leagues last season.