Top 66 Lothar Matthaus Quotes

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.

When Messi has the ball centrally, with time, he has so many options to hurt you.

When you have results, you can make a difference, and when you make a difference, you can win the Ballon d’Or.

Both Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are classy players, top midfielders. They play for Real Madrid and Barcelona. That tells you everything.

Robert Lewandowski has had some criticism, but he knows how to find the net.

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.

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.

Bayern is always a team that can win the Champions League title in Europe.

Age is just a number when you possess real quality and a game plan.

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.

Muller isn’t a number seven, a number nine, nor a number 10. He is everything and in between.

I am happy when Bayern win.

I have always loved football! Of course, you have sometimes difficult times with injuries, defeats, etc., but this is part of the sport.

I’m a cuddler; I like harmony.

Striker Sandro Wagner is very strong, a true No. 9, who really made his mark playing with Germany in the Confederations Cup.

I’m proud I was first to be named World Player of the Year, in 1991.

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.

As a player, you’d rather be up against Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern. Big clubs. Great atmosphere. Real excitement.

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.

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.

He just has the knack, the ability, to do something special and crucial. This is Messi.

If there’s one thing that fans like to see, it’s a player who can run at full speed towards the goal.

Normally, the coach does not like to make changes that are not necessary – because a team has to find itself.

I wouldn’t want to play as left forward if I normally play right-back.

The best day of my career was probably winning the World Cup!

I love Mbappe. He is so quick, carries the ball so fast, and can run the length of the pitch.

I am not a superstar, nor do I want to be remembered as one. I have always been a team player.

Back in my days, my favorite opponent was Diego Maradona.

My wife is from Russia. I like the country, the mentality of the people.

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.

I had a couple of severe injuries, and it’s not easy to watch your team from a bed in a hospital!

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.

The typical German coach wants things done one way – his way.

When Messi gets the chance to go one against one, he is very difficult to stop on his own.

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.

You can be the best coach in the world, but if you don’t have the players, you cannot get results.

We want to see football. If people want to see acting, they go somewhere else, not the stadium.

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.

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.

Ozil obviously has a lot of quality, but so does Sami Khedira as holding midfielder.

Competition is good for any player as long as they react the right way and use it as motivation.

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.

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.

Diego Simeone, the coach from Atletico Madrid, was a very strong player as a midfielder.

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.

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.

Lewandowski really is an exceptional player.

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.

If Messi is on top form, then his team can win everything.

Toni Kroos leaving the German national team would hurt me very much.

For Guardiola, the system and tactics can change but not the approach, attitude, or philosophy.

Muller is a winner for Germany and expects to score big goals in big games, especially with his late runs from behind the striker.

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.

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.

People talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but you need an Iniesta to win the big titles.

Nolito is not a left winger – he is a central player.

I hold Jonas Hector in high esteem, and he is a good player.

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.

Andres Iniesta is the magic man, not just for Barcelona but also for Spain.

If someone plays six World Cups, they deserve to be congratulated.

I’m actually a very simple person. A very normal man.

Winning the World Cup was just the most emotional experience.

Iceland won’t change. No matter who they play, they’re 4-4-2.

Kroos was right to go abroad. It was like winning the lottery.

I think my breakthrough was at the World Cup 1986.

I think football is football, politics is politics.