The starpower of Lothar Matthäus - listen to the podcast now

Today is a special day for Inter. Tonight we face Sevilla in the Europa League final.

But today is also an important anniversary, namely that of Lothar Matthäus’ Inter debut. On Sunday 21 August 1988, Inter came out with a 2-1 win away at Parma. And that day, Matthäus marked his Nerazzurri debut with a goal in the 78th minute, the first of the 53 he scored in an Inter shirt in three seasons and 153 matches.

Lothar was an important leader in Trappatoni’s squad. A technical, charismatic leader. His teammates will always remember the way that he approached the game, calm and confident: “Give me the ball, and I’ll win this game for you.” And he would do just that. A number 10 who could do it all, anywhere on the pitch, with a mixture of frightening physical power and masterful technical ability. A true box-to-box midfielder. He had a rocket of a shot, and he was a fantastic free kick and penalty taker.

Matthäus was of course at the centre of our record-breaking Scudetto-winning campaign in 1988/89, making history with his decisive free kick in our clash against Napoli, but he also made a strong impression in the 1991 UEFA Cup. In the first leg of the final against Roma at San Siro, he opened the scoring before Berti doubled the scoring, for a victory that earned us our first UEFA Cup title, despite our defeat in the second leg.

Matthäus went on to win the Ballon d’Or during his time with the Nerazzurri, and became a World Champion with Germany, before earning himself a place in the Inter Hall of Fame: it’s safe to say that Lothar left an indelible mark on Inter’s history. His career brought us stories, anecdotes and much more, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in the latest episode of “10 Number 10s” from Inter’s official podcast.

INTER PODCAST: LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON LOTHAR MATTHÄUS

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