Thomas Muller explains why World Cup glory with Germany was sweetest of his many career trophies

Having won everything there is to be won with his boyhood club, you might be forgiven for thinking Thomas Muller would find it hard to choose the greatest prize of a glittering career. You would be wrong. Eleven years on from that remarkable night in Belo Horizonte, the joy he and his teammates were able to bring to 80 million Germans sits at the pinnacle.

Muller was among the outstanding performers at the 2014 World Cup, the tournament where Germany won the World Cup for the first time as a reunified nation, stunning hosts Brazil in a 7-1 semifinal win on July 8 before beating Argentina at the Maracana five days later.

The 35-year-old, who left Bayern Munich at the start of this month when his contract expired, swept the board at club level, winning 13 Bundesliga titles and two Champions League crowns, and holds the record for most appearances at the most successful side in German football history. Still, when asked whether his achievements with Die Mannschaft were sweeter, he did not hesitate.

"It meant more, not because the club is less important, it's just about the people," he told CBS Sports' Kickin' It. "When you win it with the national team, you win it with 80 million people. Everyone who is cheering, for every person, it's important that you win. You feel the links of history. There is nothing more important than a World Cup win for Germany when you're a football player in Germany, to win it for 80 million people.

"When you see the videos and pictures of what it means to them in this moment, maybe not for their lives but maybe also for their lives. When they have this winning moment, everybody remembers the final or the Brazil game. It's such an important moment for everyone's life. You feel it."

There were plenty beyond Germany feeling something quite remarkable in the 2014 semifinal, the stunning triumph that left both Brazilian players and the nation itself in a state of shellshock. Muller started the rout in the 11th minute, drifting beyond the penalty spot to volley home Toni Kroos' corner. Eighteen minutes later, the scoreline read 5-0, the hosts who had believed they were bound to banish the memories of their 1950 loss on home soil crashing into an even deeper despair.

The strangeness didn't stop with one of the most remarkable results in footballing history, however. Five days after they had inflicted such pain on Brazil, Germany found their host nation cheering them on in the final. Anyone but Argentina, they reasoned.

Reflecting on the "weird" experience of downing Brazil, Muller said: "They were crushed and to be honest it was a little bit of a weird feeling. We could enjoy it but you saw from the beginning the pressure is crazy high. Football is such an important topic in this country, in Brazil. Before the game, the players were praying, the national anthem, the whole stadium, for them that game and getting to the final was so important.

"It was heartbreaking in one moment but also nice that you see this human reaction. In the beginning, I thought ok, what will happen if we win it maybe with a tight decision from the ref. I don't know, we have to travel back to our base camp, [it could be an emotional journey], the emotions get high with this kind of result..."

"They were even cheering for us in the final because it was against Argentina. That helped."

Muller bowed out from life at Bayern Munich on Saturday, his record 756th and final game with the club a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain bringing an end to a quarter century association with the club he had grown up supporting. It had not been the veteran's decision to part ways at the end of his contract with Bayern announcing in early April that they would not be offering him an extension.

"In the end, I felt not hurt," said Muller. "A relationship between a club and a player, even if it's so romantic and special, is always based on business decisions or football decisions. There are always moments during a contract where one side thinks, 'I'm wrong in this place'. What happened happened. In the end, I never had the feeling that anyone in the club was disrespectful.

"From the guys that decided and the big bosses in the club, I always had this feeling that they were very thankful for what I've done at the club. Everything is fine. It's a fairytale story."

As to what the future might hold, he added: "I want to figure it out in the next couple of weeks. When there is not the perfect solution for me or the chance to say 'Ok yes, I'm fine with that', then I will maybe decide to stop, to end my career, or maybe decide to wait and see what happens. I try to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable situations. I have no fear for the uncomfortable situations coming up."