Andreas Brehme

Germany versus Mexico in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals - Andreas Brehme is the second penalty taker for the national team and converts with aplomb. Instep drive, left foot. Four years later, in the 1990 World Cup final. Germany are awarded a penalty seven minutes before the end of normal time after a foul on Rudi Völler. Andreas Brehme steps up and converts with aplomb. This time with the inside of his right foot.

"I'm more accurate with my left foot but I can shoot harder with my right," he once said, something that doesn't quite go with the situations under description. It probably made no difference anyway. It did make Brehme unique as a player, though.

There was a time when his coaches were never quite sure where to play him. Right-back or left-back? Ultimately, though, none of them was prepared to do without him. His two-footedness made him unpredictable for any opponent. Whenever a defender tried to block one of his dangerous left-foot crosses, Brehme would cut inside and deliver the ball into the danger area with his right foot. A strategy that contributed to him being involved in at least one goal in six of the seven games on the way to winning the World Cup in Italy.

At the 1986 World Cup 86 (semi-final against France), the 1988 European Championship (opening match against Italy) and the 1990 World Cup 90 (semi-final against England), he scored with free-kicks taken from an almost identical position on the pitch. With his left foot, by the way. On each occasion, it was Germany's opening goal of the game. Five of his eight international goals came in major tournaments. Brehme was always there when it mattered. On the right and on the left.