(Frankfurt) He entered the legend of German football by scoring the penalty which gave the Mannschaft its third world title in 1990, against Diego Maradona’s Argentina: Andreas Brehme died at the age of 63, sparking a shower of tributes in the world of football.
Only a month and a half after the tribute paid to “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer, who died on January 7 at the age of 78, Germany, the country of king football, sees the departure of another of its world champion heroes.
“Bayern is deeply upset by the sudden death of Andreas Brehme […] We will always keep Andreas Brehme in our heart,” said Bayern Munich, where the left-back played during his career. The cause of his death was not specified in the Bayern press release.
The former player died of cardiac arrest on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Munich, according to the press.
“On behalf of the entire European football community, we are deeply saddened to learn of the death of German Andreas Brehme,” UEFA said on its X account.
One image comes back in all the tributes: the right foot of “Andi” Brehme which does not tremble on July 8, 1990 at the Olympic stadium in Rome when taking a disputed penalty awarded to Germany against Argentina a few minutes before the end of the World Cup final.
PHOTO CARLO FUMAGALLI, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Andreas Brehme (left on the ground) after his winning goal in 1990.
This responsibility should have fallen to team captain Lothar Matthäus, but he did not want to take it on, citing a change of crampons at half-time, according to an often heard anecdote.
“As the ball flew towards the inside post, I had a moment of shock, but then it went in,” Brehme later told Spiegel. The legend was born.
“No matter where I am, at the airport, when I do my shopping, I always get asked questions” about this magical moment when the final changed, he told SID, the German subsidiary of AFP sports information.
“I didn’t think about the importance of this penalty. I didn’t think of anything.”
86 caps with Germany
He thus offered victory to the West German team just before the reunification of the country, as a decisive scorer in the World Cup final like other German legends: Helmut Rahn in 1954 during the “miracle of Berne” against the formidable Hungarian team, Gerd Müller in 1974 in Munich against the Netherlands (2-1), and Mario Götze who will offer his 4e star in the country in 2014 in Rio, again against Argentina (1-0).
An ambidextrous player renowned for the quality of his set pieces, Andreas Brehme scored eight goals in his 86 appearances for the Mannschaft between 1984 and 1994, including a free kick against Michel Platini’s France in the semi-final of the 1986 Mexican World Cup (2-0 victory).
Unhappy finalist in Mexico against Argentina (3-2), he also suffered defeat in the final of Euro 1992 against Denmark (2-0).
Trained at HSV Barmbek-Uhlenhorst, a club in the city of Hamburg, where he was born, he spent most of his career at Kaiserslautern (1981-1986, then 1993-1998), landing with “FCK” the German Cup in 1996, but above all the championship title in 1998, a season after the rise of the “Red Devils” to the German first division.
He notably spent time with Bayern Munich (1986-1988) where he won the Bundesliga in 1987, and Inter Milan (1988-1992), winning the Italian championship (1989) and the UEFA Cup with the Milanese in 1991.
After his playing career, he had a short coaching career at Kaiserslautern (2000-2002) and Unterhaching (a suburb of Munich).
This unexpected death saddened the world of German football and well beyond.
FCK “mourns the loss of Andreas Brehme” and Bayern is “deeply upset” by his “sudden death”, his former clubs reacted on Tuesday.
The president of the German federation (DFB), Bernd Neuendorf, said he was “very moved and incredibly sad”, remembering a “honest, sincere, warm and wonderful” person.
“Ciao Andy, eternal legend”, greeted Inter Milan, where Andreas Brehme shone by discovering another style of football which would unleash his offensive potential.
In his honor, the Nerazzurri will wear a black armband on Tuesday evening during their Champions League round of 16 against Atlético Madrid.