Thomas Muller - The underdog in the race for Ballon d'Or

As Bayern Munich lifted the coveted Champions League trophy, one could clearly see the delight on the faces of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philip Lahm. Both of them had worked incredibly hard to win the Holy Grail of European Football. But there was another player who deserved as much to win the Champions League – Thomas Muller.

The Germany international has been on the receiving end of bad decisions for most of his career. His absence in the World Cup semi-finals against Spain was the main reason behind Germany’s loss. He was given a yellow card in the quarter-finals for a handball, which never occurred. Last season, he scored against Chelsea in the Champions League finals. Things went wayward after he was substituted later on in the match as the West Londoners won the Champions League and stunned the Bavarians.

Thomas Muller has arguably been the best player in Europe this season. He has been scoring important goals and has linked up well with Mandzukic. Every time Jupp Heynckes needed a goal, Muller provided him with one, but will he be considered for the prestigious Ballon d’Or?

In the present era of football where we are habituated to goal-scooring machines like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, players like Muller don’t get their share of limelight. Thomas Muller has an extra-ordinary record in Club and World Football. The 23-year-old has already won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Do you see his name being taken alongside other “great players” in World Football?

The current breed of football fanatics are used to watching a player who would cut past four or five defenders and then put the ball in the net with style. They like watching a player who’d perform rabonas, step-overs and beat the defenders with trickery. They like watching a player who would score from 35 yards out. On the other hand, we have Muller, who hardly performs set-overs or uses any sort of trickery. He is an average dribbler who’d rarely dribble past defenders. For fans, Muller is definitely not one of the best players in the world. Then why he is more effective that the other players?

Should a player be Cristiano Ronaldo-esque or Messi-esque to be considered one of the world’s best?

We need to rethink our definition of a good player. Muller has been scoring for fun this season. He has helped his team win the treble. But when it comes to the best player of the season awards or debates, the players with flair and the ones who play in the “bigger” leagues take all the credit.