Lothar Matthäus takes on Mats Hummels: “It won’t go down well in the dressing room”

Lothar Matthäus also believes that surprise leaders Union Berlin can make a big splash in the Bundesliga. “Can Union become champions? Yes, of course. Whoever makes it into the Europa League can also make it into the Champions League, and whoever reaches the Champions League can also become German champions,” wrote Matthäus in his sky-Column “That’s how I see it”.

As a player for the then runners-up Bayern Munich in 1998, he “experienced how the newly promoted 1. FC Kaiserslautern became champions. We saw that Leicester City achieved such a miracle in England. Why not Union Berlin too?”

FC Bayern remains the “non plus ultra” for the 1990 world champion. That’s why he’s “relatively sure” that the record champions will win their eleventh championship in a row.

This is also due to the crisis at Borussia Dortmund. Especially since Matthäus believes that the harsh public criticism of BVB defense chief Mats Hummels of his teammates will do more harm than good.

“Staying up week after week or making social media posts and constantly criticizing teammates will eventually backfire,” said the 61-year-old: “It won’t go down well in the dressing room, because the team-mates will then ask themselves , whether Mats delivers top performances week after week or whether he makes a mistake every now and then.”

He thinks “that the coach or maybe Matthias Sammer Hummels should take aside to talk to him about it,” said Matthäus.