City kid becomes club legend

(Baonghean.vn) - That was the content of the banner on the Allianz Arena stands for captain Philipp Lahm in Bayern Munich's 4-1 win over Freiburg on the final day of the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich won the championship for the 5th consecutive season and bid farewell to their beloved captain.

In his farewell match, the Allianz Arena stands were filled with images of Philipp Lahm and banners expressing the love of BM fans for their captain.

From the boy

When Lahm was only 19 years old, not yet good enough to be promoted to the first team, Hermann Gerland - Bayern's youth team coach wanted to find a team to send Lahm to for an apprenticeship. Coach Hermann Gerland introduced him to Felix Magath, Stuttgart's coach at that time: "Lahm looks like a 15-year-old boy but plays football like he's 30 years old."

Magath then wanted to know more about what positions Lahm could play and he quickly received Gerland's answer: "Multi-purpose. Left-back, right-back, right midfielder or central midfielder." In fact, Gerland's words were true and the coach of the Allianz Arena legend was forever proud of his favorite student: "Lahm has never been unable to play a bad match."

Lahm played a total of 517 times for the Bavarian Tigers, played 113 matches for the German national team, and scored 27 goals. Photo: Internet

In modern football, the role of organizing attacks is assigned to midfielders, the full-backs are purely defensive, if anything they only support the attack. With the playing style of Gary Neville (MU) and Lahm, the role of a full-back has changed a lot. From a primarily defensive position, this position is now considered the beginning of an attack.

Playing as a defender and defensive midfielder for a top German team, people imagine Lahm to be present in fierce disputes and fierce tackles. But the truth is not like that, throughout his 22-year football career, Lahm has never received a red card. A rare record, for any position on the field, not just in the defender and midfielder positions.

Legend of the pitch

Lahm is truly a “gentleman” on the pitch, he is a typical example of a player who plays wisely, delicately and artistically. Carlos Alberto, a defender Lahm's style of playing with his head is recognized worldwide.

Carlos Alberto, the Brazilian left-back of Real, is a player who plays with a strong style of play (although he has excellent individual technique) and once praised his colleague: “Lahm’s feet are spectacular, he never makes mistakes. Only machines can do that. He is a true artist on the pitch.”

During his farewell match, the stands of Allianz Arena were filled with congratulations, pictures of Philipp Lahm and banners expressing the love of BM fans for their captain. Photo: Internet

At the national team level, German captains Franz Beckenbauer and Lothar Matthaus are the epitome of strong, powerful central defenders. They are leaders, building the image of the German “Tank” with a tough, cold and somewhat ruthless style of play when facing other teams.

But under captain Lahm, people saw the "German tank" play much more flexibly without losing its traditional pragmatism. In the resounding 7-1 victory in the 2014 World Cup final against host Brazil, people even said that Lahm and his teammates played more Latin than the samba team.

With perfect personal technique, playing with both feet like one, coaches can arrange Lahm to play both left-back and right-back. The turning point came in the European Super Cup match between Bayern and Chelsea in 2013, Pep Guardiola boldly put Lahm in the center of Bayern's midfield and played defensively, following the advice of assistant Domenec Torrent.

From here, people saw a mature and calm midfielder Lahm in the role of a ball-winner in the middle of the field and he quickly became the master of the midfield at both club and national team level. And then until Philipp Lahm retired, experts still did not know whether he was the best left-back in the world, the best right-back in the world or the most intelligent midfielder in the world?

During his 22-year football career, Lahm played a total of 517 matches for the "Bavarian Tigers" (plus 135 matches for Stuttgart while on loan), played 113 matches for the German national team, and scored 27 goals.

Those are truly dream numbers for any football player in the world. Except for the Euro championship, Lahm has received his full collection of personal titles. Captain Lahm has 22 titles in all arenas (2014 World Cup, 2013 Champions League, 8 Bundesliga, 6 German Cups, German League Cup, 3 German Super Cups, 2014 European Super Cup, 2014 Club World Cup).

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