Lothar Matthaus was at several places in the city on Sunday.
A function of Shrachi Sports-backed Bengal Super League in South City International (Matthaus is the official ambassador of the football league), the closing ceremony of the Kolkata Police Women’s Friendship Cup football tournament at the Body Guard Lines, IFA’s annual prize distribution ceremony at Town Hall, and the Beighton Cup final at Salt Lake Hockey Stadium. In between, he interacted with the mediapersons too.
From Diego Maradona, German football, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, to Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund and Germany national team midfielder Felix Nmecha, Germany’s 64-year-old 1990 World Cup-winning captain was to the point.
“Diego (Maradona) was the best footballer of my generation,” he said. “Of course, after me.” He added with a laugh.
“We had football friendship. We were in those days like (Lionel Messi) and (Cristiano) Ronaldo. The rivalry makes them great players. Diego and I were rivals on the pitch. We were fighting for our teams and country. Diego made me bigger and vice versa. We profited from each other,” Matthaus said.
The German and the Argentine had played against each other in Serie A when Maradona was creating magic for Napoli and Matthaus was at Inter Milan.
In the 1986 World Cup final at the Azteca in Mexico City, a young Matthaus was entrusted by coach Franz Beckenbauer to mark Maradona. Argentina won the World Cup, but four years later in Rome, a more experienced Matthaus had his revenge, lifting the Cup, leaving Maradona in tears. Their friendship was such that, despite a heart condition, a bloated Maradona lost a few kilos to play in Matthaus’s testimonial in Berlin in the summer of 2000.
Messi or Cristiano?
Matthaus was asked to join football’s most enduring debate. Who is better? Messi or Cristiano.
“I am a fan of Messi because of his style. I don’t like to say Messi is better than Ronaldo, because they have different styles. Ronaldo has more power and is physically stronger. Messi is smarter. If Ronaldo makes a short entertainment with Messi, it’s a long entertainment. And for this, I prefer Messi more. He has been more important for football in the last 15 years. If I had a chance to play with one of these two, it would have been definitely the maestro from Argentina,” the 1991 Fifa player of the year said.
Germany’s struggle
Matthaus spoke at length on Germany’s failed World Cup campaigns in Russia and Qatar, where the four-time winners could not clear the first-round hurdle.
“We did not expect that. I believe Germany still have good players. We cannot be like Italy (who did not qualify for two consecutive World Cups). I am not too bothered about the qualification round because in our days also we struggled (in the 2026 World Cup qualifying round, Germany lost to Slovakia 2-0 before recovering. On Monday, they host the Slovaks, with the winners earning a Cup berth and losers going to the tricky playoffs). We have good individual players like (Florian) Wirtz. What we need is a team effort. We have to be more aggressive on the pitch like we used to be in the 1980s and 90s.”
On Franz Beckenbauer
Matthaus paid rich tribute to former World Cup-winning captain and coach, the legendary Beckenbauer, who passed away in January 2024.
“He was like my second father. There cannot be anyone bigger than him in German football. We miss him. Like Brazil misses Pele. Franz gave me the freedom on the pitch. We would not have had the World Cup in 2006 if Franz had not played a key role.”
New generation
Matthaus was effusive in praising 25-year-old midfielder Nmecha.
"He reminds me of myself. At 6ft 2 inches, he is taller than me. I was watching him during the qualification game at Luxembourg, and I was very impressed by what he did on the field. His style is similar to mine."