Ian Plenderleith looks at players who reveal a small insight into their lives on the web
I’ve always had a bit of a thing about Bixente Lizarazu, and not just because of his qualities as an attacking full-back. There’s something boyish and innocent about his face, as if he would never, ever stamp on an opponent or sign for a new club because they were offering him an extra ten grand a week. Even when he moved to the hated Bayern Munich, I couldn’t help but want him to do well.
The German media were quick to put Bayern's failure to win the European Cup down to rank bad luck. Ian Plenderleith begs to differ
For many a long year German football commentary was characterised by the adage that “the good teams make their own luck”. That was the line after penalty shoot-outs against England, for example, or after winning the 1990 World Cup through a penalty awarded after a blatant dive, or winning Euro 96 through a deflected golden goal, or even after Bayern Munich’s late winner in this season’s Champions League group game against Barcelona after they had played abysmally for an hour and a half. But, as Günter Netzer famously commented after the national side’s 3-0 defeat by Croatia in France 98, “at some point luck has to run out”.
Ian Plenderleith outlines the chances of Lothar Matthaus being left out of Germany's World Cup squad
The recall of Lothar Matthäus to the German World Cup squad is not just remarkable because the 37-year-old will become only the second player ever to appear in five World Cup finals. More surprising is the fact that less than a year ago Matthäus was completely ostracised by the German footballing establishment,