Jakarta. Veteran footballer Thomas Müller has lost his chance at scoring his first goal at the European Championship (Euro), making his retirement from the German national team more imminent.

Spain defeated host Germany in an extra time win of 2-1 on Friday night local time. The night saw a more balanced match in the initial 90 minutes with a score of 1-1. Müller entered the pitch as a substitute in the 80th minute. After Spain won, Müller dropped hints that Friday’s match --which took place at Stuttgart’s MHPArena-- would be the last time he wore the Die Mannschaft jersey.

“There is a high probability that this was my last international match,” Müller said, speaking to Sky Sports Germany.

Müller also uploaded what seemed to be a “goodbye” post on his Instagram account @esmuellert. 

“I’m proud to be a part of this team and, above all, proud to be German. Thank you to everyone who cheered us on, and were incredible hosts. Let’s take this feeling with us into our daily lives, especially in these times,” Müller said.

The 34-year-old striker has played in 17 Euro matches. However, he has never scored a Euro goal to this day. Müller has played for the national team 131 times, making him have the third-most caps in the German national team. He has played in four European Championships, namely the 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 editions. This brought his total playtime to 1,225 minutes. Müller’s best achievements at the European championship were two assists. He made the first assist when playing against Northern Ireland at the 2016 Euro, while the second one took place at a recent match against Scotland at the 2024 edition.

Müller only played for 56 minutes in two matches this Euro 2024 -- he was also a substitute in both times. In the quarter-finals versus Spain, Müller entered the pitch to replace Jonathan Tah in the 80th minute. Spain at the time was enjoying a 1-0 lead after Dani Olmo found the net in the 51st minute. Florian Wirtz then scored a goal in the 89th minute to make it 1-1, prompting extra time. Mikel Merino’s header then took Spain to victory in the 119th minute.

The Euro is indeed a dark history for Thomas Müller’s sparkling football career. He has secured almost all titles, including the World Cup and two Champions League wins with Bayern München. His best achievement at Euro was only when he took Germany to the semifinals in the 2012 and 2016 tournaments. The recent Euro 2024 defeat also means that Müller has failed to become a scorer in the past four major tournaments with the German national team. Germany even had to crash out of the group stage in the past two World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

This was ironic as Müller took home the prestigious Golden Boot --an award to recognize the leading goalscorer-- in the World Cup 2010, which was also his first tournament with the German national team. Müller also helped take his country to victory in the World Cup 2014. Müller scored a total of 45 goals with the German national team, making him the seventh top scorer in Die Mannschaft’s history. 

Müller --alongside Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos-- were the three World Cup 2014 players who played at the Euro 2024. However, Kroos had already announced that the Euro 2024 would be his final game.

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