Nobody expected Bulgaria to sweep them aside in the quarter-finals, not even Bulgaria And certainly not Matthaus. “One moment we were drawing, then they scored two quick goals and it was all over,” he recalls. “We were shocked, of course, but it only proved what I have been saying for some time now. Every team in the World Cup is dangerous.”Matthaus, cleverly, went on holiday to Hawaii. By the time he returned to Germany, having moved from Internazionale back to Bayern Munich, the consternation had died down. “But it was bad when the players first came back,” he says, with a rueful smile.

“The people here think we are always going to win the World Cup. In truth, he is just struggling to come up with the words, German or English, to describe such a moment.”It was normal,” he eventually says “It had always been a dream of mine Now I was living my dream, and that’s exactly how I felt It was all just a dream. I thought it wasn’t really happening, that someone was playing a joke. I thought I would suddenly wake up, and I would not be standing on a football pitch with the World Cup, but I would be in my bed.”If 1990 was a dream, then 1994 turned, by German standards, into a nightmare. It was not a good match for the people, and not a good match for the game of football either.”Still, this was probably the last thing to cross the captain’s mind as he hoisted the World Cup trophy high above his head in the Olympic stadium in Rome. How did he feel at that moment?Matthaus shakes his head, splutters, smiles, waves his hands around, and finally apologises for his “bad English” which, incidentally, is better than some English footballers try to produce. I respected the English then, and I respect them now.”He gained a few English friends when he ignored his teammates’ wild celebrations to console Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce after they had both missed penalties in the excruciating shoot-out to give the game to Germany.

“Of course,” he replies, apparently surprised that I should even point this out “I understood how they felt. The semi-final, against England, was not.”It should have been the final,” Matthaus said “The England team were very correct, very strong I liked their mentality, and I know we were so lucky to win. “I was happy that we won the cup, but I would have preferred it if we had won 3-2, instead of by one penalty. It takes two teams to make a good match, but one of them only wanted to defend.

It was no way to lose a semi-final, and I just wanted them to know it was not their fault. It could so easily have been me.”In arguably the worst World Cup final ever an Andreas Brehme penalty won the night for the Germans whilst the Argentines concentrated on collecting red cards. But what about that second goal?”This time he experienced a World Cup final defeat at first hand. A rock in front of the back four, he led his team by example, and scored, as Yugoslavia will testify, a number of goals, often from the edge of the penalty area after incisive runs from the half- way line The final, against Argentina again, was dismal. Was that hard to bear? “Nowhere near as much as people might think,” he says.

“Of course we wanted to win, but we came second in the World Cup. How many of the other teams would have settled for that? You cannot win all the time, and Argentina were then a great side.”By Italy, 1990, Matthaus, elevated to team captain, had blossomed into the complete article. His World Cup debut seems a long time ago, but Matthaus has strong memories of 1982. “I didn’t play in the final against Italy, but I remember it was a great game, and I remember how bad the Germans felt after losing,” he said.By 1986, however, Matthaus, who had moved from his home town club, Borussia Monchengladbach, to Bayern Munich, was a crucial cog in the German team “That was Maradona’s tournament,” he recalls “No doubt about that. Argentina did not win the World Cup, Maradona did.” What about the Hand of God? Matthaus smiles and concedes with a shrug “Yes, that was tough.