BVB fans show little class: Matthäus booed on his birthday | OneFootball

Before the kickoff of the match between Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV yesterday in the early evening, large parts of the stadium audience showed little grace. Lothar Matthäus, present as an expert for the broadcasting channel Sky, was richly gifted by BVB on the occasion of his birthday. However, the subsequent birthday serenade quickly turned into a chorus of boos.

On March 21, 1965, the German record international and 1990 World Cup winner was born in Erlangen, Franconia. At just 18 years old, he moved from there to Borussia Mönchengladbach, where his career quickly took off. From the Foals, he transferred in 1984 to FC Bayern Munich, where he played—apart from a four-year stint at Inter Milan—until the year 2000. His subsequent brief stop at the New York MetroStars was short-lived, before he ended his career at the age of 39.

During his career, Lothar Matthäus not only became world champion as captain in 1990, but had already won the European Championship in 1980, and with his clubs, he won eight national championships and the UEFA Cup twice. The fact that he spent the majority of his career at FC Bayern Munich—and thus at Borussia Dortmund’s biggest rival—was likely the reason for the rather unfriendly reactions from Dortmund fans yesterday.

Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images

Matthäus under Trappatoni, assistant coach to Kovac in Salzburg

After BVB coach Niko Kovac had presented today’s TV expert Lothar Matthäus with a gift package from BVB, the next planned tribute did not go as intended. Matthäus, who was once assistant coach to player Niko Kovac in Salzburg, received a special edition jersey in which BVB played against HSV yesterday. In addition, he was given a historic original ticket for the Stadion Rote Erde, which is the theme of the special jersey.

However, when stadium announcer Norbert Dickel tried to encourage the not yet fully assembled crowd to sing a song for Lothar Matthäus, the attempt was drowned out by a chorus of boos from BVB fans. Nevertheless, Matthäus was pleased that at least the gesture had been attempted, it was later said in response to the audibly spurned tribute.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.