In football, a player in a particular position may have several functions. And the most striking example of this is the attacking extreme defender. A player who runs from goal to goal all 90 minutes. He has the skills of selection, heading, dribbling and striking. The person in whom all these qualities were ideally combined is Paul Breitner, right-back of the German national team.
Childhood and adolescence by Paul Breitner
On September 5, 1951, the only son Paul was born into the Breitner family living in the small town of Colbermoor, located in Bavaria. Parents decided to give their son a good education, and he began to attend the Himgau Gymnasium in Traunstein. From the age of 6, Paul Breitner begins playing football in his hometown in the children's team of the SV-DJK Kolbermoor club. When Paul turned 10, his family moved to the city of Freissling, which was near Colbermoore. There, Breitner continues to play football in the local football team under the guidance of his father, who became a children's coach.
In 1968, Paul joined the youth team of Germany. At the training camp, he lived in the same room with Ulrich Hoenes. The neighborhood subsequently grew into a strong friendship for life. Paul Breitner's first debut in youth was against the team of Yugoslavia. Then the Germans lost with a score of 1-4. In the future, Paul Breitner will be part of the youth team on the field another 15 times and will score 1 goal.
In 1970, Paul graduated from high school and enrolled in a pedagogical university in Munich with the aim of becoming a school teacher.
Bayern
In 1970, the German national team coach Udo Latek became the coach of Bayern Munich. Familiar with Ulrich Hönes, Rainer Zöbel and Paul Breitner, he invites them to Bavaria. At 18, he signed the first professional contract. And Paul Breitner makes his debut immediately in the first game of the season on August 15, 1970 against Stuttgart (1-1).
Latek decided to transfer Breitner to the edge of defense from the attack. And Breitner began to act as an attacking defender. Paul’s functions were not limited to defense; he was also instructed to break through the flanks and assist the attack. For that time it was an innovation, the rest of the coaches preferred to use the defenders only for their intended purpose. And today this is what football can no longer do without. Paul Breitner became the prototype of the modern extreme defender. At the end of the season, the Bavarians became second, but did not remain without trophies. In the match in the final of the German Cup, a victory was won over Cologne (2-1). So Paul Breitner won the first professional trophy. The next trophies did not have to wait long: he won the championship in Bavaria in 1972, 1973 and 1974.
During his stay at Bavaria, Paul Breitner becomes interested in Maoist literature and admires Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. His favorite readings are Chinese communist newspapers in German. These hobbies influenced the character of Paul. He became straightforward and always expressed his dissatisfaction in person. Passion for communism influenced relations with the conservative president of Bavaria, Wilhelm Noydeker. And despite the fact that Paul was a key member of the team and Bayern won the 1974 Champions Cup against Atletico Madrid (4-0), after the 1974 World Cup, Paul was sold to Real Madrid.
"Real Madrid"
About 3 million German marks cost Real Madrid the transition of a player like Paul Breitner. Photos of him were on the front pages of all Spanish sports publications.
The coach of Real Madrid Milan Milyanich has retrained Paul Breitner from the midfielder to the central midfielder. He, together with Gunther Netzer, who a year ago joined the camp of the Madrid team, formed a duet that dispersed and launched attacks. In the 1974-1975 season, the Madrid team won the championship and the Spanish Cup. The next year, successes became more modest, and “creamy” won only the championship. In the European arena that same year, Paul met with the former team in the semifinals of the Champions Cup, but unsuccessfully, the Munich team won. Then things in the team got even worse, and in the season 1976-1977, Real Madrid took 12th place. Only 4 points remained to the relegation zone. Coach Milyanich was dismissed.
Homecoming
After the failed season of the Madrid team, Paul Breitner decides to return to his homeland. But his transfer at that time, few people except Bavaria could afford. Fortunately for Paul, an offer was received from Eintracht from Braunschweig. The owner of the team was wealthy, but the team was modest by the standards of the championship. And Paul Breitner was the only star in the middle team. Paul’s efforts were few so that Eintracht could compete with major clubs. There were no complaints about the game of the star. The rest of the team was constantly criticized.
And again, Munich
In the 1977-1978 season, Bayern is afraid of relegation from the Bundesliga, but is saved on time, taking 12th place. At that time, Franz Beckenbauer had already left Bavaria and the departure of Gerd Müller and Sepp Mayer was close. The Munich team began to limp, and the leadership thought about attracting new leaders. Everything new is well forgotten old, and so the first new leader Paul Breitner appeared. The transfer amount amounted to 1.85 million marks. The second leader was Karl-Heinz Rumminigge.
The Breitner-Rumminigge ligament restored Bavaria to its former confidence. In the first joint season, the team took 4th place. And in the next season, Bayern became the champion of Germany. Willy Hoffmann took the place of Noydecker, and Paul’s relationship with management finally leveled off. The following season, the Breitner and Rumminigge duet brought Bayern to the championship. And on January 10, 1983, Paul announced his retirement. Breitner is a football player with a very rich history of sports victories and achievements.
International career
In the international arena, Paul Breitner spent 16 games for the German national team (U-18), one of them (U-23) - against Norway. He began to play in the senior team since 1971.
In 1972, the German national team, incorporating Paul Breitner, won the European Championship. In the final, his team played with the USSR team and won 3-0.
In 1974, Paul Breitner won the World Cup, which was held in Germany. The German national team defeated the Dutch national team - 2-1. On the German side, Breitner and Müller excelled in that match.
After World Cup 74, there was a conflict between the German national team and the German Federal Football Federation, and Paul quarreled with other players of the national team, and he left the national team of his own free will. His next appearance in the "German car" occurred almost 6 years later. After Breitner returned to his homeland, everyone wanted him to return to the team. But this meant giving up another young player, Brand Schuster, and leaving Felix Magath in the shadow . The potential of the national team was weakened, and at the 1982 championship the German national team was defeated in the final by the Italian national team - 3-1. The goal of prestige was created by the Bavarian bunch of Breitner-Rumminigge. After the transfer of Karl-Heinz, Paul in the twine sent the ball into the net.
Paul and Pele: what is common?
If we talk about such great players in the history of football, then their matches in the finals of the world championships come to mind. There are only a few athletes who managed to hit the gates of rivals at this stage. Vava, Zinedine Zidane, Paul Breitner and Pele became players who scored in the two finals of the World Cup. In total, Paul Breitner spent 48 games for the national team and scored 10 times, and these goals are the most valuable in his career.
Star Boots
Such popularity of Germany's last defender gives many opportunities for businessmen. So, until 1984, the Adidas brand produced a limited series of Paul Breitner sports shoes. Boots can still be found today, but there are only a few of them. High quality leather shoes. Pele himself would not refuse such boots.
Named boots from Adidas will always be in price, especially if this is a limited edition. Therefore, many collectors want to get such shoes.