“Nobody needs to talk about the history of Manchester United because everybody knows it.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Age is just a number when you possess real quality and a game plan.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Iceland won’t change. No matter who they play, they’re 4-4-2.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’m actually a very simple person. A very normal man.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I had very good players around me in the team, like in the German national team. Andreas Brehme was one of my best partners in the team because he had good eyes; he could always hit the best ball.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“The start of Bundesliga season is always exciting, as it’s a fresh start for all teams fighting for the title.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Mexico and Italy are countries where you can almost taste the atmosphere from the teeming stands when you’re on the field, and that’s a real motivation for a player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Mario Mandzukic works so hard for his team. He’s not only a No. 9 but also runs behind the defenders and drops into midfield.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’m a cuddler; I like harmony.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Toni Kroos leaving the German national team would hurt me very much.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I often have the feeling that Ozil does not feel comfortable in the Germany jersey, that he is not free, almost as if he does not want to play at all. There is no heart, no joy, no passion.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Niko Kovac had to understand the system inside Bayern, to realise that this is a very different club to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he was before.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Muller isn’t a number seven, a number nine, nor a number 10. He is everything and in between.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I hold Jonas Hector in high esteem, and he is a good player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Sancho is a player who has everything. He has fantastic speed, great technique, a good eye for his colleagues, and that key pass. Everything he does, he pulls off at high speed at the right moment. For me, he is a perfect player. The ability he has is instinctive, natural. You cannot teach that brilliance.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Every good German team has strong leadership in the side.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Football is not only sunshine.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“My wife is from Russia. I like the country, the mentality of the people.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“All my family worked for Puma. My mother worked there, and my father was the guy that opened and closed up in the evening. We lived in the neighbouring building – just a couple of steps, and I would be in the Puma factory. All 300 people that worked there knew me; it was my adventure playground. I knew everything, even how to make a shoe sole.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Winning the World Cup was just the most emotional experience.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I think my breakthrough was at the World Cup 1986.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Important in a big tournament is how you start. With a great match at the start, you can distance yourself from the unrest from outside. And it increases the respect among opponents.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I was certainly no Maradona. I was a very fast player. When I saw a space, I used it. When I went past somebody, he didn’t catch up with me again. I was a player who came with a run-up. What Maradona could see in a small space, I saw over long distances.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I like football. It’s fun winning the ball from someone. It’s fun shooting at goal. It’s fun hitting a ball over 60 metres that arrives. It’s like in golf: if you hit a ball, and it flies and flies and flies, you enjoy it.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Diego Simeone, the coach from Atletico Madrid, was a very strong player as a midfielder.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“One day I’d like to show what I can do as a coach in Germany. But I won’t bend over backwards for a job in the Bundesliga and lock myself in my house for 24 hours just to win other people’s approval.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When I’m with friends, when I have time, I like to play soccer, and I think it’s still my passion, still my love. I’m not crazy to do it every day, but sometimes when I see the ball, I like to kick the ball.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Bayern is always a team that can win the Champions League title in Europe.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“If someone plays six World Cups, they deserve to be congratulated.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Soccer is the main sport in Mexico; it’s very important for the Mexican people. It’s their passion – it’s their religion – and Mexican football was always one of the best in the world.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Striker Sandro Wagner is very strong, a true No. 9, who really made his mark playing with Germany in the Confederations Cup.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When I was a player, and since then, we have never been so snobbish as to go into a tournament saying, ‘We will win this World Cup.’ We aren’t like that.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“The typical German coach wants things done one way – his way.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“If Messi is on top form, then his team can win everything.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“It is possible to stop Messi. Teams do it when he plays for Argentina. But the Barcelona Messi is different.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“He just has the knack, the ability, to do something special and crucial. This is Messi.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When Messi gets the chance to go one against one, he is very difficult to stop on his own.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When Messi has the ball centrally, with time, he has so many options to hurt you.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Normally, the coach does not like to make changes that are not necessary – because a team has to find itself.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“At Wembley, everything is bigger, wider; the atmosphere is different.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Muller is part No. 7 and part No. 9, a second striker. But in Ancelotti’s system, there is no room for that type of player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“In Germany, we laugh at it. Mourinho just selects a topic to moan about – transfers, team preparation, a rival coach. But Pep Guardiola wants it all to be about the performance of his team. He’s obsessed by possession, like at Bayern Munich, and will not compromise on that at Manchester City.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Both Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are classy players, top midfielders. They play for Real Madrid and Barcelona. That tells you everything.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Raheem Sterling is a danger to every defence because of his pace and technique. If you let him go one against one, you are in trouble. He has that speed with the ball at his feet to make a difference.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Robert Lewandowski has had some criticism, but he knows how to find the net.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I am happy when Bayern win.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When teams train now, it is about what they do with the ball and, if they lose it, how quickly they press to win it back.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Muller is a winner for Germany and expects to score big goals in big games, especially with his late runs from behind the striker.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Nolito is not a left winger – he is a central player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Andres Iniesta is the magic man, not just for Barcelona but also for Spain.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“People talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but you need an Iniesta to win the big titles.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“As a player, you’d rather be up against Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern. Big clubs. Great atmosphere. Real excitement.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Klopp knows how to motivate players. He speaks to them individually, gets their confidence up, makes them believe and grow in quality. He makes his players feel happy. And they then take that happiness onto the field. He builds that into them.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“No single player can stop Antoine Griezmann on his own.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“For Guardiola, the system and tactics can change but not the approach, attitude, or philosophy.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Competition is good for any player as long as they react the right way and use it as motivation.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’m not a fan of Paul Pogba. Maybe he is a talent, but I don’t see him as any more than that.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When a game runs out of your hands is when you look for someone like Pogba to hold the team together and give them rhythm, but I feel he only plays for himself.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“If you concede early against a quality team, you have to play more openly – and can get picked off.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I think football is football, politics is politics.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“When you have results, you can make a difference, and when you make a difference, you can win the Ballon d’Or.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Pep is not the best coach in the world. I prefer Mourinho. He is the No.1, because Mourinho is more transparent and more direct than Guardiola.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Guardiola won so many trophies at Barcelona that he had a huge impact.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Winning is the most important thing at a World Cup.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I like to travel, and I’m always ready for a new experience.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“You cannot always blame others if things go wrong.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Lewandowski really is an exceptional player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’m always pretty cautious when people say that one player could single-handedly help his side to a trophy.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Ozil obviously has a lot of quality, but so does Sami Khedira as holding midfielder.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“To speak of Mexico ’86, I can make it short and speak only of Maradona. I never saw a player who dominated a World Cup like he did in ’86.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’ve played at five World Cups, including one in the U.S. where the distances between the stadiums were also big.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Bundesliga matches are always exciting – with low ticket prices, standing terraces means all matches are played before the highest average attendances of any professional football league and creates a thrilling and breathtaking atmosphere.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Nobody has a better product than the German Bundesliga. We have the most spectators in the stadiums. We have the best stadiums. We have the most goals. We have very good teams. We have high-level international players with big names.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Kroos was right to go abroad. It was like winning the lottery.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“The best day of my career was probably winning the World Cup!”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I have always loved football! Of course, you have sometimes difficult times with injuries, defeats, etc., but this is part of the sport.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I had a couple of severe injuries, and it’s not easy to watch your team from a bed in a hospital!”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Back in my days, my favorite opponent was Diego Maradona.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Bayern fulfilled every wish, no matter what Guardiola wanted: the players, the coaches, and even the doctors. He caused much disturbance off the field. But he is one of the best coaches on the planet.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I wouldn’t want to play as left forward if I normally play right-back.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“You can be the best coach in the world, but if you don’t have the players, you cannot get results.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I always thought I’d be a coach, but I’m still open to everything.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I live in Budapest and saw how the football helped the Hungarian people to be happy.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Maradona, yes! Diego was very fast, with good skills and brilliant dribbling. Many players are fast but cannot control the ball, but he was amazing.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Football in Italy at the end of the ’80s and beginning of ’90s was the best all over the world.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Neymar doesn’t need to act – he’s an excellent player, and he has everything a high-level player needs. He’s one of the top five players in the world; why does he need to act? It doesn’t bring him sympathy, and it’s not good for him.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“We want to see football. If people want to see acting, they go somewhere else, not the stadium.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I want to show people how I really am. Most people are only familiar with some of the headlines.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Asian players have more in common with the Bundesliga than with Italian or Spanish leagues because they are wedded to the team cause, are hard-working and disciplined.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I played the 1980 UEFA Cup final for Borussia Monchengladbach against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had the legendary South Korean Cha Bum-kun as their forward. He was the face of Frankfurt then. He had pace, great technique, was a great dribbler, and scored goals. And most importantly, he was the ultimate team man.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I am not a superstar, nor do I want to be remembered as one. I have always been a team player.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Footballers have to help each other out. Everybody must give his best in pursuit of common goals – not individual ones. This has been the German approach through our football history.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“If you are champions, you have to work harder than before.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I always say that if you stay with a good coach, the relationship between him and his team becomes like a family: he becomes a father with his children.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I love Paul Pogba.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Guardiola likes footballers who can pass the ball, who have eyes for the best position and the right runs.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“If there’s one thing that fans like to see, it’s a player who can run at full speed towards the goal.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I’m proud I was first to be named World Player of the Year, in 1991.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“I love Mbappe. He is so quick, carries the ball so fast, and can run the length of the pitch.”
― Lothar Matthaus
“Dele Alli doesn’t have to show me or anyone else anything – because he has already proved his quality.”
― Lothar Matthaus
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