SempreInter.com’s Tuesday editorialist Hussein Marhoon continues to deliver great texts for you guys. This time he explains what made him choose Inter as his club, none other than Lothar Mathäus.
The German ‘box-to-box’ midfielder was one of a kind, a true champion, a warrior, a player that never gave up and always gave his all to the team. Simply, he was everything a midfielder should be.
Lothar Herbert Matthäus was born on 21 March 1961 in Erlangen, West Germany. As a youngster, Lothar played for a Bavarian regional side called FC Herzogenaurach. His professional career started when he moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1979, a time when they were the powerhouse of the Bundesliga. He spent five seasons at the team from North Rhine-Westphalia scoring 36 goals in 162 matches in the process and his performances for Die Fohlen earned him a move to German giants FC Bayern München in 1984.
In his four seasons at FC Bayern (first spell), he managed to score 57 goals in 113 league matches and won three Bundesliga titles (1984-1985, 1985-1986 and 1986-1987), a DFB-Pokal Cup (1985-1986) and a DFB-Supercup in 1987. He also helped the Bavarian giants reach a Champions Cup final in 1986-1987 season but they lost to eventual winners FC Porto.
He represented his country (West Germany & then Germany) in five World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998), a record for an outfield player. He also holds the record for playing the most number of World Cup matches (25). Matthäus won the European Championship with his country in 1980 on Italian soil and participated in three other tournaments (1984, 1988 and 2000). Despite being known for his playmaking skills, he was famously entrusted by the Mannschaft coach Franz Beckenbauer to man-mark Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup final which West Germany eventually lost 3-2. The great Maradona once described Matthäus as “the best rival he ever had”.
After the European Championship of 1988, Matthäus decided to move to the best league in the world at that time, Serie A. Inter signed him for a transfer fee equal to 3,168,000£. Lothar became an immediate success with the Biscione as he was Giovanni Trapattoni’s main man in the record-breaking Scudetto winning side in 1988-1989 season. He scored 9 league goals in his debut season with Inter and was the team’s dynamo. His heroic status was confirmed when he scored an 83rd minute winning goal against Inter’s closest title rivals Napoli in the deciding match to help his team win the Scudetto with four matches to spare.
Matthäus’ Scudetto winning goal vs Napoli
In his second season in Italy (1989-1990), Matthäus yielded 11 league goals but Inter lost their Scudetto title to Maradona’s Napoli. However, he made up for that disappointment by leading his country West Germany to win the 1990 World Cup on Italian soil (again), defeating Maradona’s Argentina 1-0 in the final thanks to his Inter teammate Andreas Brehme’s late penalty. That was not the only major prize he conquered in the same year as he was also named Europe’s Player of the Year (Ballon d’Or), World Soccer Awards Player of the year, and FIFA’s World Cup Silver Ball.
Matthäus’ third season (1990-1991) at Inter saw him finish second in Serie A’s goalscoring chart with 16 goals, just three goals short of the season’s top scorer Gianluca Vialli. Inter finished third in the league, however, they didn’t end the season empty handed as they won the UEFA Cup by beating Roma 2-1 on aggregate (he scored a penalty in Inter’s 2-0 first leg victory at the Giuseppe Meazza). He also became the first ever player to win FIFA’s World player of the year award.
His final season at Inter (1991-1992) was unsuccessful in every sense. It was his less prolific season as he only managed to hit the target on 4 occasions and Inter ended up finishing in 8th place in Serie A. He left Inter in the summer of 1992 to rejoin FC Bayern where he won more titles (4 Bundesliga titles, 2 DFB-Pokal Cups, 3 DFB-Ligapokal Cups and a UEFA Cup). He ended his playing career in the year 2000 at the age of 39 playing for MLS side MetroStars (currently known as New York Red Bulls).
He pursued a career in football management after his retirement but it wasn’t as successful as his playing career. He went on to coach clubs such as Rapid Wien, Partizan Belgrade, Atlético Paranaense, Maccabi Netanya as well as the Hungarian and Bulgarian national teams.
In my eyes and in the eyes of so many others who saw him play, Lothar Matthäus will always be remembered as one of the greatest ever midfielders the world has ever seen, and I’m so glad that he played for my beloved team during his peak years.