football
Matthew: “Experts have the right to express their opinion”
Lothar Matthäus has been a TV expert at Sky for ten years. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Lothar Matthäus is the best-known TV expert in Germany. Not everyone likes his opinion. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel recently became upset. Matthew doesn’t want to change his style.
After the dispute with Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel has a record international player Lothar Matthäus defends his style as a football expert.
“Experts have the right to express their opinion. That’s why they are there,” said the 62-year-old to the German Press Agency. “If I look back over the last ten years, anyone can say that I approach certain things critically. I speak up about the things I see and don’t speak up about what I don’t see or feel.”
That’s just the work of a TV expert. “It’s not far from that of a journalist,” he said. “Ultimately, we judge what we see. And it’s completely normal that we don’t see everything the same way.”
Before and after Munich’s top Bundesliga game at Borussia Dortmund (4-0) on November 4th, Tuchel spoke with biting irony to Sky experts Matthäus and Dietmar Hamann, who had previously criticized him. The Bayern coach broke off the interview after the game.
Bundesliga expert at Sky for over ten years
Matthäus has been a Bundesliga expert at Sky for more than ten years. He has also been working for RTL since 2019, for example on Saturday at the international match. He sees it as his job to prepare the spectators for the game.
“I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the teams and the individual players. So that in the end you get across the most important thing for the game during the preliminary banter,” said the ex-professional: “What is it about today? What is at stake, on Which player should you pay particular attention to? Who has his strengths and where? And then not just say something, but if possible, also support it with pictures.”
He doesn’t think much of statistics. “I’m not necessarily a fan of that. It’s more the American style. I’m a little more old-fashioned,” said Matthäus. “I come to my conclusions by watching games and finding out information in the media and specialist magazines.” He also has direct contacts. “We talk again shortly before the game.”