Franz Beckenbauer will forever belong to the category of immortal sports personalities. But the legend breathed his last on Sunday at the age of 78, leading from this Monday to a wave of emotion, reactions and tributes in keeping with his career as a player, coach and manager over some 50 years.
Another legend, this one from France, saluted the memory of Beckenbauer this Monday. “I took a blow to the head because he was the “Kaiser”, and Franz I spent many years with him,” confided Michel Platini, 68, in the show Rothen s’igne on RMC. First, I saw him play against Cruyff or against Pelé at the 1970 World Cup. Afterwards, I knew him through my positions within the institutions where I was and where he was. We’ve come a long way together. I knew he was very, very ill because Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had told me so. And there he is, he left us. He was Mr. Football in Germany. He made German football, he made the history of German football. »
The three-time Ballon d’Or Frenchman expressed all the admiration he had for his elder brother: “Not only was he a great player, but he was also classy, kind, smiling and charming. He was an exceptional person and I was proud to be his friend. For people my age, Pelé, Bobby Charlton, Cruyff and Beckenbauer wrote football history. »
Platini’s alter ego with the Blues, Luis Fernandez soberly saluted the memory of the Kaiser, with a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Immense loss for football with the death of the legend Franz Beckenbauer. I grew up with him and Cruyff as examples. Thanks to him for all these emotions. RIP Kaiser »
Didier Deschamps finds himself the only double world champion, as a player and then as a coach, to remain alive, after the deaths in quick succession of the Brazilian Mario Zagallo and Beckenbauer. “It is with immense sadness that I learned of the death of Franz Beckenbauer,” said “DD”. His disappearance comes just a few days after that of Mario Zagallo. It was a huge honor for me to join them both in 2018 among those who won the World Cup as a player and then as coach. My pain, today, is equal to the happiness that was mine to be invited to the table of these two giants of international football. »
For his part, Franck Ribéry, who wore the Bayern Munich jersey for a long time, posted a photo of himself with Beckenbauer, accompanied by the following comment: “Hello Kaiser! Rest in peace ! »
For the old and young alike, Beckenbauer was someone, as evidenced by the tribute made by Éric Di Meco, 60, the former OM defender on RMC. “I worked with him for six months (at OM). He is the most classy character I have met in football, and one of the three or four monsters I have come across who remain engraved in your memory for life. To give you the class of the character, every morning that God had at the time when he was with us, upon arriving at the stadium, he would stop by to greet the laundress, the storekeeper. He went into the locker room to greet all the physiotherapists, all the doctors, all the players. He was going to change… and he was coming back. Every morning he did this. I have never seen that. He left only good memories here. »
From all over the world, Germany included, tributes continued to emerge this Monday. Thus, Julian Nagelsmann, the coach of the Mannschaft, 36 years old, saluted his elder: “Franz Beckenbauer was the best footballer in the history of Germany. His interpretation of the role of libero changed the game, this role and his friendship with the ball made him a free man. As a footballer and a coach, he was sublime, he was above everything. »
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not left out, on several generations for German football. We will miss him. »
