Lothar Matthaus on the media
FFT’S columnist has 150 caps for Germany and a World Cup winner’s medal, but he’s still faced criticism on occasion. He reveals what life is like in the media spotlight – and why Nutella should never be banned
As a professional footballer, there’s no grey – only black and white. If you have a bad performance, you will be criticised, and you have to be strong enough to deal with it. If I’d scored twice in a game, I would go to the bakery, the butcher’s or the supermarket and everyone would say, “Hey, great game yesterday!” If I’d lost, people would ask: “What happened?” They like to tell you what you did wrong.
It affects your family. When I was young, if I lost for Monchengladbach my parents would go out and the whole village would say, “Oh, your son lost yesterday”. Sometimes my mother didn’t go out for three days because she didn’t like to hear the comments!
I was lucky to play in good teams who generally had positive results, but every player has to deal with criticism. Lionel Messi is one of the greatest players ever, but he can’t always win, and he can’t always play at the highest level. He was criticised at the World Cup. You’re either the king or the loser.
It was a lot easier before social media – the relationship with the media was face-to-face: you knew who was behind the article the next day. Now, one asks the questions but 20 write the next day.
I always respected the media. Most of the reporters I dealt with were very nice people, although there are always black sheep. What disturbed me was when they wrote something I didn’t say. I’d think, ‘Wow, I sat down with them for half an hour and in the end I don’t know who gave this interview, because this isn’t what I said’.
When that happens, you distance yourself from the media. The black sheep can disturb the relationship for the good journalists, so now it’s the fashion for a player’s management to control each interview. They like to check everything in the article.
But you have to understand that the media have a right to criticise you if you don’t perform well. It’s not easy, but you’re a public person and things will be written that you don’t like. Some players like to read good news, but cannot respect bad news.
I work on television now, and when I praise players, no one comes to me and says, “Lothar, why did you say this?” But if you criticise them, they call the TV station, or their management call and say, “Hey Lothar, why did you criticise Boateng?”
That’s just one example, because I happen to know Jerome Boateng’s manager very well. I say, “Look how he played – I cannot say he played well.” Two or three years ago he was one of the best central defenders, but recently he hasn’t been on the same level. I do not like to criticise a player, but if they are making mistakes, how can I give them compliments? I cannot lose face.
The German media went against me so much when I retired, and even now I don’t know why. Maybe there wasn’t the chance to do it before, because mostly I played well. During my career, I could respond to criticism at the weekend – if you score two goals, they have to write good things about you. But once I had retired, I didn’t have the opportunity to respond any more.
The German mentality is always to be a bit jealous of others. When I see how the South American media writes about heroes like Diego Maradona, we don’t have that – in all sports. Steffi Graf, Franz Beckenbauer and Boris Becker don’t live in Germany. Michael Schumacher moved away, too. I live in Hungary. They don’t understand what we did for the country – we’re good ambassadors for Germany. The media is different in each country. In England, they make you a star, then kill you the next day. Wayne Rooney is criticised for drinking, but if he went into a bar and danced on a table 30 years ago, no one would have known. We did the same, but now people film it on their iphones or call the media and say, “Rooney is here.” If he scores five goals the next day, though, give him the beers! Max Kruse at Werder Bremen is crazy about eating Nutella, and everyone talks about that – but if he has a good performance, let him eat Nutella from the morning to the evening! The most important thing is to be happy. If you think, ‘I cannot drink beer, and I like to drink beer’, then how can you be happy? When I was happy, I performed at my best.
When results are bad, however, you have to understand that people have the right to criticise. When you are a footballer, you cannot have only sunshine in your life.
“WAYNE ROONEY IS CRITICISED FOR DRINKING, BUT 30 YEARS AGO NOBODY WOULD HAVE KNOWN. AND IF HE SCORES THE NEXT DAY, GIVE HIM THE BEERS!”