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Andreas Brehme became a legend in Rome in 1990 when he scored 1-0 from the penalty spot in the World Cup final against Argentina and made Germany world champions for the third time. »In no time there were six or eight teammates on top of me, but you don't notice it at the time. Back then, everyone was still toned and had a few kilos less than they are today,” Brehme wrote in SPIEGEL in 2007.
Photo: Bongarts / Getty Images
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Brehme's career in professional football began ten years before his greatest triumph. For the 1980/81 season, the Hamburg native ended up at 1. FC Saarbrücken. Brehme is crouching at the front, on the far right. But he only stayed with the second division team for one season.
Photo: IMAGO sports photo service
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Brehme then moved to the first division to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he quickly asserted himself. In his first Bundesliga season he made 27 appearances. In the UEFA Cup, Lautern and Brehme even made it to the semi-finals.
Photo: sportfotodienst / Ferdi Hartung / IMAGO
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The left-back spent six seasons in Kaiserslautern. He almost moved back to his hometown to Hamburger SV for the 1985/86 season. The move fell through and Brehme never played for HSV later on. The photo shows him with his teammate Gerhard Bold.
Photo: Ferdi Hartung / IMAGO
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Instead, FC Bayern came knocking and brought Brehme to Munich for two million marks. Until then, more had never been paid for a player transfer within the Bundesliga. In 1987 he won the championship title with Bayern.
Photo: Eissner / Kicker / IMAGO
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After his time at Bayern, Brehme went to what was then the strongest league in the world: Italy's Serie A. He played for Inter Milan alongside his compatriots Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann.
Photo: Alessandro Sabattini / Getty Images
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In Milan he established himself as one of the best defenders in the world. In the land of defensive artists, he was voted Footballer of the Year in 1989, and in 1991 he won the UEFA Cup with Inter.
Photo: Rolf Kosecki / IMAGO
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At that time, Brehme was also an integral part of the national team. In 1984 he made his debut for Germany and in 1986 he took part in the World Cup in Mexico, here together with Uwe Rahn (l.) and Felix Magath (r.). Back then, the Germans went all the way to the final – where Argentina, led by Diego Maradona, prevailed.
Photo: Herbert Rudel / Sportfoto Rudel / IMAGO
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Revenge followed four years later in Rome. Rudi Völler was fouled in the 85th minute and was therefore unable to shoot. Lothar Matthäus didn't want to, so Brehme stepped up. »It was important to us that whoever went there was full of self-confidence and could convert the penalty. So I left,” Brehme recalled in SPIEGEL.
Photo: Sammy Minkoff / IMAGO
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"Rudi Völler came to me and said: 'Now you put it in, then we'll be world champions.' 'Well, thank you very much,' I replied," Brehme wrote about the decisive moment in his career. He hit the bottom left corner perfectly, you can't shoot a penalty better than that.
Photo: Werek / IMAGO
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The goal made Brehme a legend and put him in line with the other German winners in World Cup finals: Helmut Rahn, Gerd Müller, and then Mario Götze in 2014. Here Brehme shows himself years after the World Cup final with the trophy, with Lothar Matthäus at his side. In 1994, Brehme took part in his third and final World Cup; after being eliminated in the quarter-finals, he resigned from the national team.
Photo: sportfotodienst / HJS / IMAGO
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At club level, his time at Inter Milan was followed by an interlude at Real Zaragoza before Brehme returned to Kaiserslautern for the 1993/94 season. He actually thought about ending his career, but in 1996 he was relegated from the Bundesliga with FCK. He didn't want to stop like that. As captain, he immediately led Kaiserslautern back into the first league. The following year, Kaiserslautern sensationally became champions as promoted teams. Brehme was no longer a regular player at that time and ended his active career in 1998.
Photo: Bongarts / Getty Images
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His coaching career was less illustrious. From 2000 to 2002 he worked as a team manager in Kaiserslautern and even reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. After missing international business twice in a row, Brehme had to leave after a weak start to the 2002/2003 season.
Photo: ActionPictures / IMAGO
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At VfB Stuttgart he still worked as Giovanni Trapattoni's assistant coach, but after less than a year it ended there too at the beginning of 2006. His previous station in Unterhaching also ended quickly. After that, Brehme no longer worked as a coach.
Photo: Ralph Orlowski / Bongarts / Getty Images
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Until the end, Brehme was one of the closest confidants of Franz Beckenbauer, his team manager during the 1990 World Cup victory. In January he took part in Beckenbauer's funeral service at Munich's Allianz Arena.
Photo: Karsten Lauer / foto2press / IMAGO
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Until recently, Brehme lived primarily in Munich with his partner Susanne Schäfer. He died there on Tuesday night of cardiac arrest.
Photo: Gisela Schober / Getty Images
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