“We are stunned”
Death of Brehme shocks world champion “family”
February 21, 2024, 12:13 a.m
Not only did they stand together on the pitch, but they also kept in touch afterwards: the 1990 world champion team is also mourning the death of Andreas Brehme. Record-winning national soccer player Lothar Matthäus even speaks of the loss of a family member.
Led by the then world champion captain Lothar Matthäus, the teammates of the successful team from 1990 reacted with great sadness to the death of Andreas Brehme. “I was shocked when I found out,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “Andi was part of our family. We met 45 years ago and shared many stories.”
In 1990 the two won the title with the German national soccer team at the World Cup in Italy. In the final, Brehme converted a penalty kick against Argentina in the 85th minute for a 1-0 win. Matthäus had put on new shoes at halftime, which is why he let Brehme take the penalty.
“We were roommates, with the national team and at Inter Milan,” Matthäus recalled of our time together in Serie A: “We often spent 100 nights a year together. This friendship wasn’t over even after our careers. It is “It’s really like a family member has died,” emphasized the 62-year-old.
“Above all, a special person”
“Dear Andy, we are stunned that you have left us,” wrote Brehme’s former teammate Jürgen Klinsmann at be forever grateful!” the 59-year-old continued.
Klaus Augenthaler, Jürgen Kohler and Stefan Reuter were also part of the world champion team at the time. Augenthaler, like Kohler, had started the final in the final, Reuter had come on as a substitute a good ten minutes before Brehme’s goal. “I’m standing here on the training ground right now and I found out about it on the way here. So I haven’t digested it yet,” Augenthaler told the ran.de portal. “We just saw each other recently and had lunch together. When you hear something like that, it’s obviously hard.”
Brehme will always have a place in his heart, emphasized Jürgen Kohler, who also became world champion with Brehme in 1990. He explained to the portal t-online.de: “Because he was not only an extraordinary footballer, but above all a special person. Down-to-earth, straight forward. You always knew where you stood with him. A great person has left us – way too early.” Reuter told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that he “connects with Brehme not only the shared success of winning the World Cup, “but also many wonderful moments together outside of the football field.”