Matthaus, national team fighting and love life

Saturday, April 29, 2023 05:00 (GMT+7)
05:00 April 29, 2023

Matthaus' autobiography "Ganz oder gar nicht" continues to expose the dark side of the German football legend's career and life.

Matthaus's biggest enemy was Klinsmann, the national team's top scorer. They played together for Inter Milan for three seasons, then reunited at Bayern.

The failed mutiny in the national team

Before Euro 1996, Klinsmann and center-back Helmer pressured coach Berti Vogts to remove Matthaus from the national team. That tournament, Klinsmann wore the captain's armband and led the German team to the championship. In 1996, Matthaus also published a book called "Diary" telling behind-the-scenes stories of Bayern. Because of this book, Bayern stripped Matthaus of the captain's armband and gave it to Klinsmann.

An uneasy relationship with Klinsmann: friend, teammate, enemy.

“I am not the type of person who thinks deeply, who acts on emotions. Klinsmann is a completely different type of person. He thinks very carefully before making a decision, he always has a consistent strategy, once he has outlined it, he will not deviate to the left or to the right. To execute the strategy, he is not afraid to remove obstacles on the way.”

At Euro 2000, Matthaus was almost tainted by the "mutiny" scandal. "At that time, I had just moved to the US to play for a few weeks, which meant I had lost all power over those who had "flattering" me before at Bayern to get a place in the national team like Hamann, Babbel, Jeremies, Linke, they turned against me. While the national team was gathering in Mallorca, there was a dangerous atmosphere against coach Ribbeck rising."

“Some disgruntled people wanted to overthrow Ribbeck, they came to me and said: Lothar, call Franz Beckenbauer and tell him how unprofessional Ribbeck is preparing for the tournament here. They made a big suggestion that even I myself did not think of. If Ribbeck is fired, I will become the national team coach. I'm sorry, what? The opportunists who just turned against me suddenly want to overthrow the coach and make me the new national team coach?”

“What should I do? I actually called Franz. However, not to remove Ribbeck but to ask his opinion on this impasse, as a kind of cry for help. Franz suggested that I sit down with Ribbeck and the conspirators to discuss how to defuse this toxic atmosphere. Then I told them to drop the idea and we would settle the matter like men, on the pitch. The coup collapsed. Ribbeck never found out about the mutiny plan.”

Ribbeck probably heard this story somewhere, he seemed grateful to Matthaus. So even though he played so badly that players like Bierhoff asked Ribbeck to put Matthaus on the bench, Matthaus was still trusted in all 3 matches. Germany was eliminated in the group stage.

5 marriages and countless lovers

Matthaus says he is the type of person who “always let his heart take over his head”. “I always had the feeling that I was missing something as a man. A woman in my life? Well, my father would have liked that. But not me.” So Matthaus spent his whole life chasing after women. His basic formula: young, dark-haired, Eastern European.

From left, top, clockwise: Silvia, Lolita, Maren, Marijana.

At the age of 11, he had his first kiss with Claudia from the same village, whom he lost track of. Looking back, the pre-pubescent marriage failed anyway because of the unsuitable hair color: “Blonde hair was not my hunting plan.” Matthaus met his first wife Silvia through his first girlfriend Carolin. When Carolin brought Silvia to visit, he always had a comparison in his mind: “Red hair, freckles, muscular body, Carolin can’t compare to Silvia.”

“When I arrived at M'Gladbach, after a period of integration with the team, I rented a bigger apartment for Silvia to move in with me. Two weeks before Silvia was due to move into the apartment, I went to Augsburg with my teammate Veh. Then I immediately fell in love with an 18-year-old girl named Rosi at a disco. She was a hairdresser, with long, blonde hair, tied up in a bun. A week later, Rosi quit her job and moved into my apartment. But two months later, I realized that Rosi was not the person I needed. I called Silvia sadly, she forgave me and moved into the apartment instead of Rosi.”

Matthaus and Silvia had two daughters together, until their split in 1991. “I announced that I was going on holiday with Lolita to the Caribbean and hoped that when I returned, Silvia would have packed her bags and things would go as I wanted.” He and Swiss TV presenter Lolita Morena had a son, Loris, together until their split in 1999.

Next up was Maren, daughter of Bayern and Germany's famous doctor Muller. They dated for two years despite the objections of her father, who did not like his daughter being involved with a twice-divorced man 16 years her senior. In 2001, Maren dumped Matthaus, and her father breathed a sigh of relief. During this time, Matthaus also took the opportunity to visit Claudia, the wife of his teammate Thomas Strunz.

His third wife was Serbian Marijana Kostic, a businesswoman 10 years his junior. They married in 2003, separated in 2007, and finalized their divorce in 2009. While awaiting divorce, Matthaus met his fourth wife Liliana Tchoudinova, a lingerie model born in Kyiv in 1987. But the relationship only lasted 25 months. Liliana even "cuckolded" Matthaus when she was photographed kissing another man at a resort.

From left, top, clockwise: Liliana, Ariadne, Joanna, Anastasia.

Next, Matthaus dated the beautiful Ariadne Lounnou. Then Polish lingerie model Joanna Tuczynska, whose parents objected. Perhaps during their relationship, he was caught by Joanna with someone else, so she took the initiative to break up. Because 2 months after the breakup, Matthaus recorded a video crying and begging Joanna, "Please forgive me, I miss you so much." The video was hacked and posted online, making Germans laugh out loud.

Matthaus married his fifth wife, Anastasia Klimko, in 2014, and had a son, Milan, the same year. He thought he would live a peaceful life with the dark-haired Hungarian model, 27 years his junior, but in 2021, they tore up their marriage contract. At “only” 62 years old, Matthaus will probably continue his love adventures.

German legend ranks Benzema after Lewandowski in the past 2 years Sharing with Zing and international media, Lothar Matthaus, captain of the German team that won the 1990 World Cup, said that Robert Lewandowski was the best player in the world in the past 2 years.

Chinh Phong

Matthaus Germany Bayern Klinsmann