Mueller praises Lewandowski as ideal strike partner

Mueller praises Polish hotshot as ideal strike partner and key to Bayern's treble challenge

"Servus!" ("I'm at your service!") Thomas Mueller affably greeted Xinhua ahead of a recent interview. It was hardly surprising to see the Bayern Munich and Germany great in such good spirits.

Mueller is on the cusp of a ninth Bundesliga title following his team's perfect start to the league's resumption, and, with Robert Lewandowski firing on all cylinders, is confident Bayern can add Champions League and German Cup glory to its trophy cabinet in a repeat of the Bavarian giant's 2013 treble.

Polish striker Lewandowski has hit the ground running following the Bundesliga's restart last month, with his brace in last weekend's 5-0 thrashing of Fortuna Dusseldorf taking his tally to 29 in 27 league appearances to top Europe's Golden Shoe standings.

Asked about who he would most like to play alongside－Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?－Mueller plumped for someone closer to home: "If you ask me about the ideal partner, I tell you－we have got Robert Lewan-goal-ski! He is the best striker I could think of."

The move which ended in Lewandowski's first strike at Fortuna on Saturday was a masterclass in fluid one-touch soccer and perfectly highlighted his understanding with Mueller－Bayern's selfanointed "Raumdeuter" (space interpreter).

"I am more efficient in the middle," Mueller said of his unselfish work as an expert assist provider behind target man Lewandowski. "The distance to the goal is much shorter as I am always on the hunt."

Elaborating on his metamorphosis in the No 10 role, Mueller told Goal.com: "Maybe in my past years I would like to play with Leo Messi, because in the first six or seven years of my career, I was more the receiving striker. I got the ball in the box and tried to score.

"In the moment right now, in my very good shape at the moment, I assist many goals. Maybe now I need more a Cristiano Ronaldo to score the goals, but we at Bayern have Robert Lewan-goal-ski. I think maybe right now he is the better option than Cristiano."