By Theo Gardner
An ‘Unsung Hero’ is a player that was integral to their team(s), be that through playing a role that doesn’t traditionally receive a lot of plaudits, turning up for their team in big moments or going unnoticed due to the other stars they played with.
Andreas Möller is one of those players.
Internationally, Möller is a World Cup and a Euros winner, as well winning the Bundesliga twice. In European football, he has a UEFA Cup and a Champions League to his name.
Möller was capped 85 times for Germany, scoring 29 international goals, and he was named in the Bundesliga team of the season on six separate occasions.
Career
Möller played his youth football at Eintracht Frankfurt and made his league debut in the 1985/86 season – as an attacking-minded midfielder. A disappointing season, the side finished the league in 15th position – having scored only 35 goals in the league.
Möller established himself as a regular player the following season, making 22 starts in the league and grabbing his first Bundesliga goal. Unfortunately for Frankfurt, the league looked much the same – another 15th place finish, and a negative goal difference come the end of the season.
Möller raised his game to a new level in the 1987/88 season, grabbing 4 goals in 12 games from midfield, and earning himself a mid-season transfer to Borussia Dortmund where he would go on to grab another 3 goals come the end of the season. Dortmund finished the season in 13th place – below Frankfurt, however this would prove a positive career move for Möller in the long-term.
The following season, it became clear the potential Möller had to be a top player. Möller grabbed 11 league goals across the season and got his first taste of silverware winning the DFB-Pokal alongside his Dortmund teammates. It was also in 1988 that Möller was handed his first senior cap for the West-German National Team – having played for their Under-21’s during his youth career. Dortmund would go on to finish in 7th place in the Bundesliga table this season, while 16th placed Eintracht Frankfurt were sent to the relegation play-offs. This season was the first time Möller made the Bundesliga Team of the Season – he would go on to feature in this 5 more times.
A fourth-placed finish would follow in Möller’s next season at Borussia Dortmund, as his side were pipped to a finish inside the top 3 by the impressive resurgence of his old club – Frankfurt, on goal difference. However, Möller did add to his silverware cabinet, winning the DFL-Supercup at the start of the season. Additionally to this, Möller made the Bundesliga Team of the Season for the second season running as well as finishing with the most assists in the league.
This called for a homecoming for the Frankfurt native. Möller returned to Eintracht Frankfurt, and led his team to the highest he had ever finished in the league – 3rd place. He even grabbed 16 goals along the way – making the Team of the Season for yet another year. 1990 would also mark Möller’s first international tournament – Italia 90. Managed by the legendary Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany were victorious in lifting the world title – beating Argentina in the final due to a penalty from Andreas Brehme in the 85th minute.
The following season meant another 3rd placed finish for Eintracht Frankfurt as he, yet again, lost out to the club he had recently departed, with Dortmund grabbing 2nd place. Möller added 12 more league goals to his name this season – taking his all-time Bundesliga tally to 57 and making the Team of the Season for the fourth year in a row.
Möller’s strong performances earnt him a move to Juventus at the age of 25. He grabbed 10 goals in his first Serie A season, as well as achieving his first European title – the UEFA Cup. Juventus beat his former side – Borussia Dortmund 6-1 across a two-legged final. Möller himself bagged a goal in the home leg.
In his second season at the Old Lady (and his last season outside of Germany), a 26 year old Möller and the rest of his Juventus teammates recorded a 2nd place finish in the league, losing out to champions Milan by 3 points.
After 78 games and 30 goals in Italy, Möller returned to Germany for the 1994/95 season with Borussia Dortmund. This season brought Möller’s first league title as alongside his Dortmund teammates, he won the Bundesliga with 49 points. However in continental competition, Juventus got the better of Dortmund again – winning 4-3 across a two-legged UEFA Cup semi-final.
Möller and Dortmund went back-to-back in the Bundesliga, winning the league and beating last seasons’ points tally by 19 points. He also claimed his second DFL-Supercup title, winning 1-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final. On top of this, Möller was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season for the fifth time in his career and he finished with the most assists in the league. In the champions league, Möller’s old club came back to haunt him again, as Dortmund finished 2nd in their group to eventual winners Juventus. Dortmund were knocked out in the quarter finals by Ajax. This season also brought about Möller’s most famous moment, as he scored the winning penalty against England in the semi-final of Euro 96. His country went on to win the whole tournament – making him both a European and a World Champion.
Dortmund and Möller repeated last season’s success in winning the DFL-Supercup in 1996, despite a sub-par individual season for Möller – scoring 9 less goals than he had just two seasons before, BVB finished 3rd in the league. Dortmund finally triumphed over Juventus as they beat them 3-1 in the Champions League final. Möller had now won club footballs highest prize.
Despite achieving significant success in Europe again (reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League), Dortmund struggled domestically. They finished the season in 10th place. Individually, Möller grabbed 10 goals – meaning his all-time Bundesliga total was now at 94 goals.
Möller endured a quiet season the next year as Dortmund tried to bounce back from the previous disappointing season. He scored 7 goals and Dortmund achieved a 4th place finish in the league.
Möller had now entered the twilight of his career by the 1999/00 season. Dortmund did not get out of the group stage of the Champions League, and finished 11th in the Bundesliga. This would be Möller’s last season at Borussia Dortmund.
Möller moved to Gelsenkirchen team FC Shalke 04 for the 2000/01 season. Despite individually putting up nowhere near the numbers he had previously (scoring only one goal), Shalke had an extremely successful domestic season. They finished 2nd in the Bundesliga – losing out to Bayern Munich by only one point and, they were victorious in the DFB-Pokal – beating Union Berlin 2-0 in the final.
Shalke would repeat this success the following season – as Möller scored in the final against Bayer Leverkusen. Möller had now won this competition 3 times. They finished 5th place in the league and individually, Möller bagged 4 goals across the season.
In his second last season of professional football, and his last season at Shalke, Möller scored just 1 goal as Shalke finished 7th in the league.
In his last season of professional football, Möller returned to his boyhood club of Eintracht Frankfurt. Unfortunately Frankfurt finished in the relegation zone of the Bundesliga.
Defining Moment
It is clear that Andreas Möller had an extremely impressive career – winning both the Euros, the World Cup and, everything in Germany. However, the most famous moment of his career came in the semi-finals of Euro 96. After the game remained 1-1 through both normal time and golden goal extra time, the game went to penalties. After the first 5 penalties for each team, no mistakes were made and the game went to sudden death. Gareth Southgate infamously had his penalty saved and Möller stepped up, blasted his penalty straight down the middle, and ran away before celebrating in a way that can only be described as imitating a pigeon.
When asked by Paul Gascoigne why he celebrated like that, Möller described his celebration as a show of patriotic proudness.
Final Thoughts
One thing is for sure – Andreas Möller was a fantastic player, in fact Stephan Uersfield, the German correspondent for ESPN described him as ‘one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, winning trophy after trophy’, in his piece on Euro 96. He won almost every trophy that he had ever played in at least once and scored 199 career goals. A key player at both domestic and international level, the fact that Möller is not more well-known is shocking – he truly is, an unsung hero.
