Far Post Header ‘Hall of Fame’ No.16 – Lothar Matthaus
Lothar Matthaus has played five different World Cups and holds the record for World Cup appearances, having played in 25 games. For that reason alone, he must be a decent player!
He is considered to be one of the greatest midfielders of all-time, playing as a box-to-box midfielder before dropping back to the sweeper role towards the end of his career.
The German would often be seen marauding upfield with the ball at his feet and wasn’t afraid to shoot from long-range. His tackling and excellent positional play were revered by his fellow professionals.
Matthaus began his playing career at Borussia Monchengladbach in 1979, making 200 appearances and scoring 51 goals.
A year later, he made his debut for West Germany. His debut came in the 1980 European Championships in a 3-2 win over Holland and West Germany would go on and win the tournament.
His first World Cup came in 1982 when he was part of the West Germany squad that played in Spain, reaching the Final before losing to Italy.
Bayern Munich came in and signed him in 1984, where he lifted two Bundesliga titles. In 1987, Bayern reached the European Cup Final but lost 2-1 to Porto.
In the year before the European Cup Final defeat, Matthaus was part of a West German team that again reached the World Cup Final, this time they lost to a Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina.
Matthaus and his German team-mate Andreas Brehme both joined Inter Milan in the summer of 1988. They won the Scudetto and Italian Super Cup in his first season at the San Siro.
A year later, he captained the West Germany side at the 1990 World Cup in Italy and this time they would go a step further, beating Argentina in a repeat of the Final four years previously in Mexico.
Matthaus was awarded the Ballon D’Or in 1990, one of the highest accolades for a footballer.
A UEFA Cup win in 1990/91 gave Matthaus his first taste of European silverware and on a personal level, he was awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year. This was the first, and so far, only time that a German player was given the award.
After missing Euro 92 due to injury, the opportunity arose for a return to the Bundesliga as former club Bayern Munich came in.
Four Bundesliga titles, two German Cups and another UEFA Cup were won in his time back at Bayern. On the international level, Germany was now a unified country once more Matthaus captained the first unified German team to feature in a World Cup when they were surprisingly knocked out by Bulgaria in the Quarter Finals.
Matthaus was omitted from the Euro 96 wining squad after a fall-out with Jurgen Klinsmann, his successor as German captain.
Two years later, France ’98 was to be Lothar Mattheus’s final World Cup. Germany suffered a shock 3-0 defeat to Croatia in the Quarter Finals.
Going in to injury time of the 1999 Champions League Final, it looked as if Matthaus would finally win the only trophy that had been eluding him throughout his playing career.
Bayern were beating Manchester United 1-0, but conceded two injury-time goals to lose 2-1. This was a repeat of the 1987 Final against Porto where Matthaus saw his Bayern side lose 2-1 after conceding two late goals.
In 1999, at the ripe old age of 38, Matthaus was voted German Footballer of the Year, having previously won the award at the start of the decade in 1990.
The Bayern Munich man made final appearance in a major tournament for Germany came at Euro 2000. His 150th and final cap for Germany came against Portugal in the third and final group game against Portugal. The Germans wouldn’t qualify from the group stages.
Matthaus would spend a year in the MLS in America with New York Metrostars before retiring from the game.
In 2018, Matthaus came out of retirement to play 50 minutes for German side FC Herzogenaurach’s final game of the season. He was 57 years old!
Since retiring from playing, Matthaus has also been a successful manager. He managed the Hungarian and Bulgarian national sides as well as club football in Austria, Serbia, Brazil and Israel.
About Author
