News about Gerd Muller

OLIVER HOLT: It was Brazil's fourth goal in the 1970 World Cup final against Italy, which made Pele the highest there will ever be. Of course, that is subjective. The best arguments are still are. But it wasn't what made it for me anyway. We only saw the goal, those few seconds of football perfection, when I was a kid, because those were the days before you could watch everything on repeat. And yet, making it more valuable. It made it like gold, like the Brazil shirts' gold. I was eight years old and it was on display in the preamble to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Johan Cruyff and Johnny Rep. Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer were competing in the tournament, but a symbol of beauty, in my opinion, was that Brazil's goal from four years ago.

All attention will be on Qatar on Sunday, not only are they making their debut at the World Cup finals, but they will be doing it as the host nation. The home team's progress has always been a subpoena to any tournament, and this one will be no different as they face Holland, Senegal, and Ecuador in a competitive league. Other World Cup hosts have varying over the years, from being left out on the first stage to winning the tournament, as Sportsmail examines how every country has fared when being on the home team.

Only a select group of footballers will qualify to play at a World Cup. An even more elite group is those that were able to win the world's biggest tournament. After all, only eight nations have lifted the trophy in almost a century of history. Any player faces the greatest challenge and the holy grail. However, there have been some truly outstanding teams who came so close to winning it and then stopped so far. Sportsmail looks at some of the best teams that did not win the World Cup in Qatar ahead of the tournament.

JANAGE FJORTOFT: Well before Erling Haaland moved to England, there were some very lazy pundits around. After Liverpool defeated Manchester City in the Community Shield, skeptics emerged again. Haaland wasn't at his best that day but, as I said at the time, if he plays badly and still has three good chances to score, imagine what he could be like? A few weeks ago, I shot a documentary with Erling detailing the process he and his consultants went through to select a team, compiling pros and cons, and assessing their relative strengths. Alfie's father, Alfie, was important, but they were also able to discuss options with his agent Mino Raiola before he died, and he accepted their decisions.

Bayern Munich welcomes Barcelona to the Allianz Arena with former striker Lewandowski making his return to the club he left just eight weeks ago. Muller and Lewandowski enjoyed a fruitful nine years together, assisting the Bundesliga giants in winning eight domestic titles and a Champions League championship in that time.

After revealing that something had 'died' inside of him, the Polish national, 33, let it be known earlier in the window that he did not want to continue with Bayern Munich. Lewandowski, who has migrated to Catalonia, said he needed a new challenge having lost everything he had won during his time with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.