#9 Luca Toni ~ Offered new contract

[Munchen Minded]

He is our best striker ever, and Klinsmann better not try to go all German next year, as Toni is an absolute must. Let Klose and Poldi fight for the same position or only if Toni is injured or absent in some way. He is way better than Makaay. I thought I was way sad about Makaay leaving, but not anymore.

[Trim]

Toni is and will be an undisputed starter. Brilliant striker. LEGEND, already.

His brace against Frankfurt tonight was his 20th Bundesliga goal, his 33rd in all comps.

[llewelyn]

That's now 300 minutes played (and 6 goals) in the last 3 games for Toni in the span of 7 days. He's the only player to have played the full game all 3 games. It really is fun to watch him play. He is so hungry to score...he's never satisfied. Good luck to you guys on Saturday.

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Luca Toni appeared slightly nervous on Thursday, as any number of lenses and all eyes homed in on the striker and a brand new pair of boots provided by his equipment supplier. Two hours after a few tentative jogs and sprints to test the new footwear, the trademark grin had returned to the Italian’s craggy features as he faced the media at Bayern’s Säbener Strasse training ground. Understandably enough, the boots were a topic for discussion. Should the striker really be contemplating a change just now?

Toni’s current boots have brought him no fewer than six goals in as many days, two apiece in Bayern’s meetings with Getafe, Dortmund and Frankfurt. “I am superstitious actually, so I’ll test the new boots again tomorrow before deciding whether to risk them on Saturday,” the 30-year-old revealed.

Boots in focus

The 2006 World Cup winner goes in search of his first trophy at club level when Bayern face Dortmund in the DFB German Cup final at the Berlin Olympic stadium. Practically all footballers detest changes to an established routine before big matches, and Toni appears to be no exception.

However, even if the Italian chose to go without footwear, few would bet against him netting at least once on present form. “In terms of goalscoring quality, he’s one of the best we’ve ever had at Bayern,” Oliver Kahn declared on Thursday.

Memories of Müller

The man who switched to Munich from Florence last summer now has 33 goals in 40 competitive appearances, the kind of strike rate inevitably drawing comparisons with Munich legend Gerd Müller. He leads the scoring charts in the Bundesliga (20) and the UEFA Cup (10). In Frankfurt on Wednesday, he scored the goals to make the score 2-1 and then 3-1 in his side’s favour.

“He’s a poacher, the kind of forward you don’t see very often. He’s the definition of a penalty box player, always in the right place and hardly ever wasteful. He’s an outstanding striker,” continued Kahn, impressed by more than just the big man’s killer instinct. “As a World Cup winner, he has total belief in himself, and that’s infectious. You hear his voice when things aren’t going so well. He kept urging us on in Getafe, and he duly got the goals.“

Tireless Toni

The club captain also praised Toni’s professionalism. “His movement is always just right, always into the important areas. He comes across as extremely fit and doesn’t need resting.” Toni has hardly been affected by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld’s extensive squad rotation in recent weeks.

“He want goals. That’s why he’s at Bayern, and that’s what he lives for. Even when he’s tired, he’ll manage a sprint if he senses a goal. His mental strength is absolutely unbelievable,” Hitzfeld said, almost in wonder, after the two-goal gala in Frankfurt. The Bayern coach had wanted to withdraw the Italian at the interval as a precaution before the Cup final, but Toni insisted on playing on. “Someone so fired up is always going to score,” mused general manager Uli Hoeneß.

Critical phase

Toni freely admits he never expected to settle at Munich quite as quickly as he has done. “Obviously I’m delighted, but we’re only just coming to the vital games where the goals count double,” he declared before returning to the city where he won the World Cup with Italy two years ago. “Berlin was a lucky place for me,” he reflected, although he will certainly be careful with his choice of boots.

[Trim]

2 goals tonight in the final against Dortmund (2-1).

Lucaaaaaaaaaaa Toniiiiiiiiiiiiii!

35th goal in all competitions! 4th brace in 4 matches!

Born to score..

[BlackNess]

He is fucking Unstoppable ....

We love you Luca ...

[RunX]

Wt a player !! world class! he is unstopped !
Crazy Lucaaaaaaa

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Bang on time for the run-in to the end of the campaign, Luca Toni has hit unstoppable form with a rain of goals for Bayern. The striker’s fourth two-goal haul in ten days fired Munich to victory over Borussia Dortmund and a 14th DFB German Cup triumph on Saturday, also earning the 30-year-old his first winners’ medal at club level.

”In his case, we’ve done a superb piece of transfer business,” general manager Uli Hoeneß enthused after watching the Italian take his total to 35 goals in all competitions. The striker, brought in from Fiorentina for just under €10 million at the start of the season, has begun to look cheap at the price in the light of 20 goals in the Bundesliga, ten in the UEFA Cup and five in the DFB Cup, an outstanding average of 0.85 goals per game. “He’s repaying the entire fee in his very first year with us,” Hoeneß remarked.

Two-time winner in Berlin

Toni clearly feels at home in Berlin, collecting his first club trophy on the same ground where he and his Italy team-mates won the World Cup on 9 July 2006. His 11th-minute opener on Saturday, superbly created by Mark van Bommel and Franck Ribéry, was a textbook demonstration of how to be in the right place at exactly the right time, while the extra-time winner highlighted the big man’s dazzling technical ability.

”He’s a poacher, a goal-getter, straight out of the manual,” Oliver Kahn commented ahead of the final. After the match, the club captain found even more emphatic words of praise: “He doesn’t just score goals, although obviously that’s crucial. He has a winning mentality, and that’s good for the team as a whole. He’s an unbelievably positive guy.”

Not satisfied yet

”He’s definitely a phenomenon,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge agreed. “We knew he’d get goals. He proved it in the Italian league, hardly an easy place,” Rummenigge mused. “When we signed him last summer, we just hoped he’d maintain his strike rate.“ Toni has already exceeded expectations. “What he’s doing at the moment is unbelievable. Two goals a game, and always crucial. Long may it continue“

”The goals count double from now on,” Toni himself commented, eyeing a series of pivotal fixtures in the remaining weeks of the season. Merely collecting the DFB Cup has done little to still the player’s hunger for honours. “I’m hoping for lots more goals between now and the end of May. We’re still missing two more trophies,” declared Toni, who is contracted to Munich until 2011. He is hoping for many more trophies before then, regardless of the venue.

[toni87]

world class!

[Trim]

fcbayern.de: The outstanding player recently has been Luca Toni. You speak Italian, so you’re closer to him than most people. How well has he settled here in Bavaria?
Rummenigge: ”Luca has quickly recognised that Bayern Munich is a very special club. After all, he never experienced the top Italian clubs, the Inters, AC Milans and Juventuses. He’s totally happy here at Bayern, he’s enjoying himself and – as we’ve seen in recent weeks – his German is coming along too.

fcbayern.de: Luca Toni is suspended for Thursday’s UEFA Cup semi-final against Zenit St. Petersburg. How bad a loss is that?
Rummenigge: ”It’s a shame he can’t play when he’s on a roll, but we’ve just got to get on with it. We had the same situation in the Cup semi-final against Wolfsburg. Luca was suspended but we still won 2-0. I hope we do equally well against St. Petersburg.“

fcbayern.de

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Müller: "Toni has an eye for goal"

"The nation's bomber" is Germany's most successful striker ever. He scored 68 goals in 62 caps for Germany and 365 Bundesliga goals in 427 games - winning the Bundesliga's goal-getter cannon seven times.

His 40 goals in 1971/72 are followed by 38 in 1969/70 and 36 in 1972/73. Between 1966/67 and 1977/78 Müller always finished in the top 3 of the goal-scoring charts with at least 20 goals each season.

bundesliga.de: Mister Müller, no one has ever come close to your 40 goals in the 1971/72 season. What do you think, will anyone ever surpass it?

Gerd Müller: I don't think so. Maybe Luca Toni in this season. If he doesn't, no one ever will.

bundesliga.de: Why?

Müller: There aren't that many good strikers that could be expected to do it. Scoring 40 goals isn't that easy, they'd have to play for one of the top clubs.

bundesliga.de: Who will win the goal-getter cannon this season?

Müller: Toni, who else? I don't see anyone who can get close to him.

bundesliga.de: What did the goal-getter cannon mean for you?

Müller: It's the ultimate thing for a goal-getter! Especially when you win the Golden Boot as well, as I managed twice. You make the headlines more often, and additionally it's always great to win a title.

bundesliga.de: What's so special about Luca Toni and what is similar to Gerd Müller?

Müller: He's a real goal-getter. He's very good in the air and can shoot with both feet. He's not the quickest, but he knows what he's doing. He can score out of the blue - that's the kind of player a team needs. But I had a different style of play, you can't compare that.

bundesliga.de: Does Toni offer qualities other players don't?

Müller: He has an eye for goal. He often loses his marker and always seems to know where the cross or corner will come to. It works automatically. Even if the ball is deflected he still reacts. You don't see that in other players.

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

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Bayern captain Kahn was right to criticise me, says Toni

Bayern Munich captain Oliver Kahn was right to criticise Frank Ribery and Luca Toni earlier in the season, the Italian World Cup winner acknowledged on Wednesday.

Kahn caused a stir in December when publicly attacking the two new recruits in a thinly-veiled attack on their consistency.

"One or two among the new players have to understand that here, two or three matches isn't enough. Bayern is not Marseille or Florence, but rather AC Milan, Real, Barca and Manchester United."

His comments earned him a fine and ban, but Toni, double goal hero of Bayern's extra time German Cup win over Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, now believes the club's retiring talisman was talking sense.

"When I first heard his comments my reaction was one of incredulity, but now, I have to say he wasn't wrong," the 30-year-old striker told German sports daily Bild.

"I've come to recognise since then that I'm at Bayern Munich and that you have to win every game. Even when we're playing every three days. It's only winning that makes the club happy, that's something particular to Bayern and I'm happy about it."

Toni, who leads the Bundesliga scoring charts with 20 goals, concedes it's not all been plain sailing since his arrival last summer from Fiorentina.

"We Italians are very attached to our beloved Italy and I still have trouble speaking German," admitted the attacker who has bagged a double in each of his last four games.

He revealed that he would seek out club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a former Inter Milan star, from time to time for the sole reason of having a chat in his native tongue with the former Serie A star.

"That always give a boost to my morale," he said.

AFP: Bayern captain Kahn was right to criticise me, says Toni

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Bayern 4-1 Stuttgart. Another goal by the Crazy Guy!

21 in Bundesliga, 10 in UEFA Cup, 5 in DFB-Pokal = 36 goals

[Munchen Minded]

Toni is obviously in scintillating form, and he has 21 goals in the bundesliga. Well, is there ever going to be anyone to beat Gerd Muller's 40 goals in one season? Gerd always talks up how much harder it was back then with teams using sweepers more, but Toni seems like he could beat Gerd's total. Actually the way Klose started the season he might have easily went over 30 goals if he kept scoring, but now that is gone. Gerd will always be a hero and noone will ever beat that record, but it is always something that people will use to compare strikers with at Bayern.

[Vargas_4]

^ I don't think anyone would be ever to beat Gerd's record.