There is not much that Lothar Matthäus — captain, alpha male and all-round synonym for FC Bayern München during its Hollywood years from 1995 — did not undertake to discredit Jürgen Klinsmann.
The Franconian, traditionally close to the BILD newspaper — whose teammates later claimed he had "installed a direct line from the Bayern dressing room to the BILD newsroom" — and whom many privately called only "IM Lothar" (a reference to East German Stasi informants), because so many internal matters, or "indernal" matters, as Matthäus himself would say, found their way into the tabloid in often miraculous fashion, hatched a perfidious plan. He had not forgiven Klinsmann for nonchalantly marching up to national coach Berti Vogts before Euro 96, together with Thomas Helmer and Dortmund's Matthias Sammer, and asking the coach not to select Matthäus for the tournament in England.
Only that way, Klinsmann argued, would a successful European Championship be possible. Vogts followed the trio's advice, did not select Matthäus, and inadvertently triggered the next escalation in the permanent feud between "Klinsi" and "Loddar." "Klinsmann is cowardly, selfish and only in it for the money" was just one of Lothar's poison arrows aimed at the Swabian who played in Munich.
What Klinsmann did not know: Matthäus bet 10,000 marks with manager Uli Hoeneß against his nemesis. He believed that Klinsmann would not manage to score 15 goals in the 1996/97 season, which Bayern would end as German champions. Morally in the relegation zone, this was also a poor idea from a technical standpoint. In his debut season in Munich, 1995/96, Klinsmann had already scored 16 times. Somehow Klinsmann got wind of what Lothar was planning — unsurprisingly, given that Matthäus never exactly kept quiet about such things in public. "Klinsi" went on the offensive. For FC Bayern and their fans, fortunately, on the pitch!