Lothar Matthäus is one of the best players of all-time. The midfielder won 150 caps for Germany and played in 5 FIFA World Cups, a record for outfield players. He was the captain of the 1990 World Cup winning side and is now demanding that his former club Bayern Munich return the gold-plated right cleat of his pair of adidas World Cup cleats he famously wore in the final.
The 54-year-old has a history of squabbles with his old club from claiming he was owed money for his appearance at a 2001 testimonial to recent criticism of the team’s exit from the UEFA Champions League. The right cleat is on display at the Bayern Munich Museum.
The cleat was there to hoist the trophy but it missed out on the chance to win the game. Matthäus is said to have passed on the opportunity to take the deciding penalty kick as he was not comfortable in his new cleats after changing them at halftime. Andreas Brehme stepped up to bury the spot kick despite the Argentine players’ attempts to rattle him by kicking the ball away before the kick.
“It is correct that Lothar has demanded to get back what he gave to Bayern’s museum,” Matthäus’ adviser Wim Vogel told Munich’s Express newspaper.
The entire West Germany national team, including current U.S. men’s national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, wore adidas World Cup cleats at the 1990 World Cup final.
The adidas World Cup cleat is a classic and still available and in stock at World Soccer Shop.
