Quotes

[How did you manage to run up and down the sidelines as Bayern's right-back as a smoker?] I didn't smoke two packs a day. What should I say today? I always wanted to have my cigarette after a game. That's just how it was, and I knew that it wasn't good. It should not be an example for young professionals out there today.

He [Ottmar Hitzfeld] accepted my smoking, because he knew I had given everything on the pitch earlier. That was the most important thing.

But soccer in my day was different. There was much more acceptance between individuals than today [2020]. Today, people always look for something negative in a player or coach. Only what might be problematic is singled out. Society is too negative. I get the impression that it isn't so important how a player plays but rather how he talks. It wasn't like that back then. If you always gave your all, then you were forgiven for a mistake. Soccer has become too important, but it's only a sport. You have to have fun in your sport first.

[on Zinedine Zidane's red card for headbutting Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final] After the game, in the dressing room, Zidane apologised. But I didn't accept his apology. I didn't want to talk to him. It wasn't the time, there was too much disappointment. I went to the bathroom and smoked 250 cigarettes in 10 minutes. We didn't talk for two years after that. In 2008, however, I got married and my wife told me to invite him. I called him and we had a little snack together in the morning: we had a good conversation.