Fear & Lothar
PEN FAILURE HAUNTS YOU SAYS MATTHAUS
LOTHAR MATTHAUS has seen close up what penalties can do to England players.
And it is why the German legend believes Gareth Southgate’s side have to win inside 120 minutes on Tuesday or history could crush them again.
Matthaus (inset) believes England are still haunted by their shootout failures of the past.
The 60-year-old World Cup winner, Germany’s most capped player, was part of the West German team which beat England on penalties in the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup.
He took the second kick in the shootout in Turin and was famously pictured consoling Chris Waddle who missed as England crashed out.
Of course, it was Southgate who missed in the shootout against Germany at Euro ’96.
Ahead of Tuesday’s last-16 tie at Wembley, Matthaus said: “England have a chance to win but not with penalties. With penalties I’m sure Germany will win.
“We are always very good at penalties, it’s a little bit of a joke between the Germans and the English.
“If we have to go to a penalty shootout, Germany are the favourites because then you start to think what’s happened in the last 30, 40 years, 1996 and other penalty shootouts. “This is a lot of pressure for the English players – they read the newspapers and they know the stories about penalties. “But you don’t have to be so negative and pessimistic. You have to be optimistic for the future. “When you see the England team they have fantastic players who play in the Premier League and the best clubs all around the world.
“I respect this team very much, I see these players all year and what they are doing for their clubs.
“England put in a good performance in the World Cup three years ago – better than the Germans.
“Germany can be much better than in the first three group games because we have fantastic players.
“We have experienced players, we have young talented players but they have to play better than they did against Hungary.”
Germany only squeezed into the knockout stages with a late equaliser on Wednesday against Hungary to set up the Wembley showdown, so expectations are not high but old rivalries and emotions will be revived.
Accommodation and Attractions Booking Partner of UEFA EURO 2020™, Booking.com found that 61% of English supporters would rather see Germany, their main rivals, win the upcoming tournament, than skip their next holiday.