After quarries at FC Bayern
Ex-rival “now really good friends”
04/26/2025 – 9:15 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The relationship between Jürgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthäus was strained for a long time. But there is nothing left of former disagreements today – on the contrary.
They used to be considered bitter rivals, today Jürgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthäus understand each other. Klinsmann said about his relationship with his former teammate in the podcast “Ball you need is love”: “Despite many quarrels with him on the human level, we are now really good friends.”
When both played together for Inter Milan and FC Bayern in the late 1980s and in the 1990s, there were strong tensions between the two national players. In the meantime, everything has been “totally clear” between him and the 1990 world champion captain, emphasized the 60-year-old Klinsmann. The 64-year-old Matthäus was also an “incredibly good player” anyway.
Klinsmann also looked back on his legendary freak out of the 1996/97 season. After a substitute at Bayern, he had kicked an advertising tone out of frustration. This reaction “hurt humanly,” said Klinsmann.
After the incident, he waited for coach Giovanni Trapattoni in the cabin to apologize. The tears shot his eyes. Then he said to the Italian: “Trainer, I’m incredibly sorry. I don’t even know what happened to me.” Trapattoni then hugged him and replied: “I forgot.”
Klinsmann then wanted to correct a widespread misunderstanding: Contrary to the common opinion, as a Bayern coach (2008 to 2009), he did not have the Buddha statues on the roofs around the training area. Rather, this was the idea of the designer of the then new performance center. “The one who was responsible for the whole story then put up Buddhas,” said the ex-striker. “And then I was then circled.”
The former national coach also commented on his future. Last year Klinsmann was released as a coach in South Korea. He can well imagine returning to the coaching bench. “I hope that I will be able to write one or two or three stories,” said the Swabian. He was open to new things, but football is never really planned.