Friday, June 06, 2008

Panini-Zufallsbekanntschaft #1

Paul Breitner (West Germany - Spain'82)

Come on, if that isn't a good sign for this series I don't know what is! First random pic to be thrown up by the 11 Freunde page is Paul Breitner of all people. It would only have been more perfect if the random panini sticker generator had delivered Breitner circa 1974 . . . at the height of his revolutionary maoist glory.

I've already been here before with Breitner on the blog, so it's probably best if you just click on the link rather than me having to repeat myself.

I will, however, reiterate again that it turns out that the beard in the pic was a bit of a fraud because prior to the '82 World Cup in Spain he took the cash and shaved it off. Shame that, 'cos the sticker pic gives off a dishevelled Paul-Michael Glaser vibe. If only Bernd Schuster hadn't threw his toys out of the pram after the Euro Championship in 1980, he could have been the Hutch to Breitner's Starsky. Apart from anything else, that would have ensured no German pop career for David Hasselhoff.

Now that I think about it, despite Breitner scoring West Germany's consolation goal in the '82 Final, I always associate him more with the 1974 Final. I think West Germany in '82 and I think Briegel, Schumacher, Littbarski and Rummenigge. Breitner - like his youthful maoism - already came off as a seventies anachronism.

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