Comparing Lionel Messi’s head-to-head record against Thomas Muller ahead of MLS Cup final | OneFootball

Lionel Messi is set to face Thomas Muller in the MLS Cup final on Saturday, but how does his record against the German stack up? We’ve crunched the numbers.

For the first time in both clubs’ history, Inter Miami and the Vancouver Whitecaps have made it to the MLS Cup final.

Inter Miami beat New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final and Vancouver Whitecaps got the better of San Diego in the Western Conference final.

With both sides now gearing up for the big final on Saturday, anticipation has started to grow as two of the league’s biggest stars will go head-to-head.

Messi arrived in MLS in 2023 and has taken the league by storm, producing 78 goal contributions in 50 league matches.

After leaving Bayern Munich over the summer, Muller joined Vancouver Whitecaps and has also had a big impact on the league.

In 12 appearances, he’s produced 13 goal contributions and will fancy his chances of getting the better of Messi and Inter Miami over the weekend.

The reason this match-up is so highly anticipated is that Muller has been somewhat of a nemesis for Messi throughout his career.

Indeed, Muller beat Messi in the 2014 World Cup final with Germany and was also part of the Bayern Munich XI that humiliated Barcelona 8-2 in the Champions League.

In total, Messi has played 10 games against Muller and has only won three of them, with the German winning the other seven.

Of the three triumphs that Messi has, two of them came in international friendlies, so didn’t have any stakes riding on them.

That means that Messi has only got the better of Muller in one competitive fixture – a Champions League semi-final clash in 2014-15.

Messi did produce a masterclass on that occasion as he scored twice during Barcelona’s 3-0 win. Bayern won the second leg 3-2, but Barcelona advanced to the final on aggregate.

The last time the two players faced each other was during Messi’s final season with PSG in the Champions League.

Bayern faced PSG in the Round of 16 and won both fixtures, which subsequently became the last time that Messi ever played in the UCL.

Despite having a great record against Messi, Muller still considers him as the GOAT, although he previously sided with Ronaldo.

“Lionel Messi is the GOAT,” the German said in an interview with MLS.

“In my first 10 years as a professional player, I would have chosen Cristiano Ronaldo, but since the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, it’s been Messi for me.

“Now, as I get older and more romantic myself, playing style and aesthetics are more important to me than individual performance, work ethic, and so on.

“Both are absolutely crazy. I don’t know why it worked so often against him [Messi].”

Here’s the full breakdown of Messi’s record against Muller.

Lionel Messi’s record vs Thomas Muller