FC Bayern Forum

03.09.2006

"I'm getting better all the time," Lukas Podolski declared in an interview published by <b>fcbayern.de</b> just a few days ago. The summer signing provided convincing evidence to support his point of view with an energetic display and the winning goal for Germany in Saturday's 1-0 Euro 2008 qualifying victory over Ireland. "I'm not at 100 percent yet, but I'll be completely there in a couple of weeks," the player declared afterwards.

Podolski is well on the way to recovering peak form, just in time for a packed September schedule with his club which features six matches in three weeks. Bayern boss Felix Magath's strategy of giving his star newcomer time to acclimatise after the World Cup, fielding him as a substitute in the first three Bundesliga matches with increasingly longer spells on the field, has clearly paid off as the 21-year-old slowly but surely finds his feet in Bavaria.

<b>Sixteen international goals</b>

The match-winning goal against a typically stubborn Irish eleven, Poldi's first strike since the World Cup, will have set the seal on the player's ever-increasing confidence. "But I knew I'd score again soon enough, so it wasn't like a great weight slipping off my shoulders," he insisted. New Germany supremo Joachim Löw reckoned the youngster had "a very good match. Lukas covered an incredible amount of ground, he looked extremely mobile and pulled their defenders this way and that."

As it happens, the former Cologne shooting-star is already breaking records in a Germany shirt. He has scored 16 times for his country but is still only 21 years and three months old, a feat not matched or even approached by any of the 842 players officially capped by Germany in their 98-year history as an international footballing nation.

<b>Parallels to <i>Der Bomber</i></b>

Even the great Gerd Müller cannot boast a similar achievement. Intriguingly, after <i>Der Bomber</i> arrived in Munich back in 1964, he had to wait a full 12 matches before starting for the senior team. In that sense, Podolski is merely following in the prolific goalscorer's footsteps, although he will surely not have to wait as long for his first appearance in a Bayern starting line-up.

When is that match?

Really? Oh wow I know nothing about the German Cup but I believe there's a forum so I'll go and check it out Thanks.
If you're right and he starts, I hope he goes all the way through extra time if necessary and to penalties. He takes a mean penalty.