Matthaeus: The highs and lows

IN GOOD TIMES: Lothar Matthaeus celebrates with his once friend Jurgen Klinsmann after scoring against Yugoslavia during the 1990 World Cup. PHOTO: DAILY STAR ARCHIVE

“He's the best rival I ever had. I guess that's enough to define him,” Diego Maradona wrote in his autobiography about the German who was his immediate midfield adversary in two World Cup finals.
The personal battle finished Lothar Matthaeus 1-1 Diego Maradona, with West Germany's title at Italia '90 equalising Argentina's at Mexico '86. In Italy, Matthaeus was by far the outstanding player of the tournament, his athleticism, power and determination making him the apex of a box-to-box midfielder.
Matthaeus also holds the record for most games played at the World Cup. His 25 matches played over five tournaments (1982 to 1998) is probably unbeatable. Only one other player has appeared in five, Mexico's Antonio Carbajal, a goalkeeper who participated in just 11 matches from 1950 to 1966.
From the pair of matches played in 1982 as a young defensive midfielder to his final appearance as a deep-lying defender at France '98, each World Cup saw a different Matthaeus. However, that constant presence did not necessarily make German hearts grow fonder; for all his achievements, Matthaeus inspires a mixed reception -- at best.
“The strange thing is his reputation is much bigger outside Germany,” said Uli Hesse, who once ran Matthaeus' website for him and was his regular ghostwriter. “People outside Germany tend to focus on what he has done on the pitch, but as a German, you cannot have one without the other. There is another side to him.”
Through the years, Matthaeus has fallen out with just about everybody, from a civil war with Jurgen Klinsmann over the Bayern Munich captaincy that stopped him playing at Euro '96 to a row over a Bayern testimonial that led to club president Uli Hoeness saying he would not even employ Matthaeus as a “greenkeeper.”
The player of Italia '90 is how Matthaeus is best remembered -- a goal against Yugoslavia in West Germany's opening match his finest highlight. Setting off from deep in his own half, he powered on, a shimmy beyond a pair of Yugoslav defenders buying him space to lash in a left-footed shot to score his second of the game and the Germans' third.
“That's probably a key moment to realise what he could do, and it kick-started the whole tournament for Germany,” said Hesse. “We knew where we stood, once that ball went in. Everything was going to be OK.”
With Matthaeus dominating midfield battles, West Germany's progress to the final was serene. A rematch with Argentina, who had beaten them in the final of Mexico '86, awaited in Rome's showpiece.
Matthaeus dominated the final, won 1-0 by an Andreas Brehme penalty that the skipper passed up the chance to take. Captain marvel Matthaeus lifted the trophy while Maradona sobbed tears of disappointment.
Matthaeus would return, but as a very different player after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture playing for Inter in 1991. He inherited the sweeper role that was once Beckenbauer's but was not nearly as successful as his mentor. USA '94 saw Germany shocked 2-1 by Bulgaria in the quarterfinals and at France '98 by Croatia, who ran riot 3-0 in a quarterfinal that cruelly exposed the slowness of the ageing captain.
It was a sad way to end the longest World Cup career of all, one that in 1990 scaled the very heights.