Bayern Munich’s annual New Year’s fan club visit to the Bavarian town of Burgsinn, a usually lighthearted opportunity for fans to interact with players, quickly turned into a PR disaster after Lennart Karl expressed his dream to play for Real Madrid in the future. It didn’t take long for Karl’s statement to catch the attention of the mainstream media, triggering outrage amongst Bayern fans, a lot of whom have turned their backs’ on the young star despite his stunning start to the season.
The 17-year-old
German’s comments have sparked a chain of reactions from fans, players and pundits. Now, Bayern and Germany legend, Lothar Matthäus, has become the next to throw his opinion into the ring.
“I think it’s great when someone has self-confidence even at 17,” the former German national team captain began to explain in an interview with Sky Sport Deutschland (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Setting goals has absolutely nothing to do with arrogance. I find it honest, but not pretentious or arrogant. Real Madrid simply has that kind of mystique. Bayern Munich is in a similar position, but often you want to try something new in life. You can’t say, “I’ll stay at Bayern my whole life,” like Thomas Müller – that’s unique. Ultimately, everyone has a goal at some point I think it’s all fine. It shows that Karl is ambitious and believes in himself. He knows he has to perform exceptionally well at Bayern to even be on Real Madrid’s radar. He hasn’t said he wants to play for Real in the next two years. It’s his dream. Dreams can come true, but you have to work for them, and Bayern would benefit from that. If Karl becomes so good that Real Madrid negotiates with him, he’ll first have to achieve something extraordinary at another club [Bayern].
I, too, would have loved to play for Real Madrid. I was named World Player of the Year in 1990/91, and suddenly Real Madrid were knocking on my door. I would have loved to go, but I still had a contract. That’s why the transfer didn’t work out back then. Real and I had an agreement, but Inter didn’t want to let me go for a high transfer fee. I, too, had dreams: I always said that I wanted to play for a big club, become a national team player, and be part of the World Cup squad. At some point, dreams just get bigger. Four years ago, Karl probably would have said that he wanted to play in the Bundesliga – probably for Bayern Munich.
Karl simply sees what’s possible. It’s not just about the sporting aspect. It’s also about a new, different, and better quality of life, better weather, the biggest club in the world. And we’ve often seen that the best footballers in the world don’t come from the Bundesliga, but rather from a league that receives more global attention.”
While difficult to stomach, the 64-year-old does provide an interesting perspective on the matter. The initial feeling towards Karl is most likely anger—and that’s okay. After all, fans are just human beings and it’s important to feel what you feel. However, no sound opinion was ever built on a foundation of rage. After all, applying the same rationale, Karl too is just a human being—an extremely young and, in some ways, an understandably immature one at that. But Karl’s statement doesn’t take anything away from his tremendous contribution to one of Bayern’s best starts to a season of all time, nor does it change the fact that Lennart Karl is still a Bayern Munich player.
Matthäus’s statement provides a fresh perspective on a situation, understandably, marred in anger, rage and negativity.
