The midfielder's international retirement has prompted heated debates, and his former team-mate insists racism is not an issue in the team
Thomas Muller is adamant racism has never been a problem in Germany's national team despite Mesut Ozil's perceived persecution, with the Bayern Munich forward also having a pop at the "hypocritical" media.
Ozil announced his retirement from international football in July after growing tired of what he felt was racist treatment on behalf of the German Football Federation (DFB), supporters and even some politicians in the wake of his and Ilkay Gundogan's meeting with controversial Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Arsenal playmaker, who is of Turkish heritage, was particularly scathing of the DFB and its president, Reinhard Grindel, accusing him of belittling his opinion and being patronising.
Grindel had called for Ozil to explain his decision to pose with Erdogan, while DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff said the national team should have considered leaving him out of the squad for the World Cup as he felt the incident could have affected their campaign.
Ozil also felt as though he had been scapegoated by the DFB following Germany's shock World Cup exit in the group stage.
The discussion of the topic continues as the new season approaches, and Muller is the latest to be asked about it.
Rather than opting to back Ozil, the attacker decided to accuse the media of being hypocrites who would not let the initial story fade away.
"The whole discussion was fired up by outsiders," Muller said at a news conference on Friday ahead of Sunday's friendly clash with Manchester United.
"Of course, the protagonists of that matter acted a little bit unfortunately, both the executives of the DFB and the players.
"But, actually, this debate is hypocritical from the media's side. Because of the debate, the media gets circulation.
"The DFB wanted to have peace with it, calm it, but the media always asked, again and again. The discussion was made bigger than it was and now you see what you get from that.
"For the sales numbers, of course, this is great, because now you still get to ask about it.
"For us players, I think the whole issue never was as big as it was made out to be, but of course we got confronted by it and we still do.
"So now we finally should end that debate and concentrate on football, because racism inside the national team never was an issue."
ColAmAn
138
Mueller is merely defending the DFB by not supporting Oezil and rather blaming the media who are only doing their job. In actual sense, if there was nothing like scapegoating, then Mueller should have been part of those blamed for the failures of the German national team, because he has been more woeful than Oezil....but of course, he's a pure German, so I'm not surprised!
Kahabks
105
I am a serious German supporter but I want to tell them tostop what they are doing towards that gentleman ozil, they don't have the right to treat him that way the guy has done a lot for the nation and to the entire team he respect his mate and to everyone in the country now look at what you did to him make sure you stop that if not you won't prosper.
follower
80
racism in Germany needs to stop, everyone should be like neur supportive and say that players have their own decision. say no to racism ❤❤❤❤
feacklp
53
The media is to be congratulated for giving the world an opportunity to really learn of this matter, keeping it for as long as people kept it going. Hypocrisy is anyone, starting with Muller who wants to hide this issue of Racism. It seems most football people in Germany have done one thing uniformly and consistently, vented angrily that Ozil pointed out that RACISM exists in German football. We remember stories of players in Germany who were abused painfully, and nothing was ever done, and this does not only affect Germany, but right now we only thank Ozil for bravery, for speaking out, for sacrificing his position in the national team. He's amazing and he's adored the more because he's done what many are afraid to do. Football has triumphed over many social issues, united different cultures and societies far more thana u political ideology, and FIFA are therefore by default, custodiansof the most powerful idea in soccer, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, football is the most powerful ideology of our time. Racist individuals in Germany, or anywhere in the world, should know the media cannot stop writing about them, until they change their mind towards being racist in society. It's not about money here that the media makes, it's about a platform, a forum to link people affected by a burning issue. Muller should apologize to the media. The media follow people's interests, if people DON'T like this issue, why are they following the media? Muller shame on you and everyone in your circle of similar thinking! It's not about Ozil. We hate RACISM in our football!
Nesaiknruy
47
I want to blame racism but fact is they got other players like Boateng who is of foreign decent and he doenst suffer any discrimination right now so it seems like it could be a personal problem and the race card is being pulled.
Uganda853641
39
I feel this issue has run its course. Let it rest. Some people here just comment that they expect Özil to be defended all the time but I disagree. özil is a very famous person who should know that it comes with its territory. He should know that whatever he does or say will always be in the public domain. So he should take care to protect himself and minimize unnecessary criticism. Now people here start to accuse other players of not coming out and defend Özil's naive actions. No way. Özil made his bed and so he should jump in it. Don't accuse other players.
hamza_chounaki
31
Mueller is merely defending the DFB by not supporting Oezil and rather blaming the media who are only doing their job. In actual sense, if there was nothing like scapegoating, then Mueller should have been part of those blamed for the failures of the German national team, because he has been more woeful than Oezil....but of course, he's a pure German, so I'm not surprised!