Lothar Matthaus

“Niko Kovac had to understand the system inside Bayern, to realise that this is a very different club to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he was before.”

“Pep is not the best coach in the world. I prefer Mourinho. He is the No.1, because Mourinho is more transparent and more direct than Guardiola.”

“One day I'd like to show what I can do as a coach in Germany. But I won't bend over backwards for a job in the Bundesliga and lock myself in my house for 24 hours just to win other people's approval.”

“I want to show people how I really am. Most people are only familiar with some of the headlines.”

“I'm actually a very simple person. A very normal man.”

“I think football is football, politics is politics.”

“Competition is good for any player as long as they react the right way and use it as motivation.”

“Robert Lewandowski has had some criticism, but he knows how to find the net.”

“You can be the best coach in the world, but if you don't have the players, you cannot get results.”

“If you are champions, you have to work harder than before.”

“When Messi gets the chance to go one against one, he is very difficult to stop on his own.”

“I live in Budapest and saw how the football helped the Hungarian people to be happy.”

“Muller isn't a number seven, a number nine, nor a number 10. He is everything and in between.”

“The typical German coach wants things done one way - his way.”

“Age is just a number when you possess real quality and a game plan.”

“Winning the World Cup was just the most emotional experience.”

“Both Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are classy players, top midfielders. They play for Real Madrid and Barcelona. That tells you everything.”

“If Messi is on top form, then his team can win everything.”

“All my family worked for Puma. My mother worked there, and my father was the guy that opened and closed up in the evening. We lived in the neighbouring building - just a couple of steps, and I would be in the Puma factory. All 300 people that worked there knew me; it was my adventure playground. I knew everything, even how to make a shoe sole.”

“I've played at five World Cups, including one in the U.S. where the distances between the stadiums were also big.”