Today legendary German football player Lothar Matthaus visited Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and held press conference with Levan Kipiani, minister of Sport. Besides journalists, a lot of Georgian fans of the German football came to the ministry to meet the former captain of the German national team.
“I am excited with Georgia and the Georgian people. I did not expect to see so many fans of my country in Tbilisi. I am also proud that a fan-club has formed in Georgia and I am a president of it. I will try to justify my responsibility” – stated Lothar Matthaus and added he was very happy to meet Levan Kipiani who he has known before.
“We met each other in Rio de Janeiro at World Judo Championship – mentioned the minister of Sport – Lothar is a huge fan of sport. Georgia became champion in judo in Brazil and Matthaus congratulated us on success. I want to thank this legendary sportsman for visiting Georgia and of course, many thanks go to “Zedazeni” company. We are planning to carry out some interesting projects in the future”.
Vasil Sulkhanishvili, general director of “Zedazeni”, stated the visit of Matthaus was the best present for the football lovers.
“Many thanks to Matthaus. I wish good luck to him and the German national team” – stated Sulkhanishvili.
Lothar Matthaus answered some questions of the journalists.
- How do you estimate chances of the German national team at World Cup in Brazil?
- Germany is always a favorite. The team must use all its possibilities.
- What do you know about the Georgian football?
- I know some Georgian football players who played in Europe. I also know the Georgian football players have problems with discipline.
- What was the reason of German’s failure in the 1986 World Cup final? And how did you manage to win World Cup after 4 years?
- There were a lot of nuances in 1986. We were more mobilized in 1990.
After the press conference Lothar Matthaus visited the museum of the Georgian sport with Levan Kipiani. You must have seen a surprised face of the guest when he learnt Georgia has 34 Olympic champions.
“This country surprised me in many ways. It is fact you love sport and are very successful in many kinds of sport” – added Matthaus.
Otar Maglakelidze
