BERLIN: Lothar Matthaeus was a footballing legend, captaining West Germany to their 1990 World Cup triumph and much more besides. But the 49-year-old`s personal life has not always been so glorious.
On Wednesday the latest installment in his roller coaster love life was that his soon-to-be-fourth ex-wife Liliana, 22, wants Matthaeus to pay to have a breast enlargement operation reversed.
The operation has already happened and Matthaeus, who paid for her original operation as a school-leaving present in 2008, is livid. He is refusing to cough up the 2,800-euro (3,640-dollar) Vienna surgeon`s bill.
"I fail to see why I should pay for this and other plastic surgery bills," Matthaeus told the Bild daily. Other nips and tucks conducted on Ukrainian-born Liliana include having her lips enlarged and liposuction, Bild said.
The collapse of the former Bayern Munich and Inter Milan star`s fourth marriage -- they tied the knot in Las Vegas -- has been given extensive coverage by Bild, Germany`s biggest newspaper.
Last week it splashed on its front page photos of Liliana in the arms of another man on a boat in the Mediterranean, and then carried an interview and even a video of the former footballer expressing his shock and dismay.
But Liliana`s stylist Samuel Sohebi told Bild that she and Matthaeus -- whose motto according to his website http://www.lotharmatthaeus.de/ is "Always look ahead and never give up." -- have been separated for several weeks.
Until recently, Matthaeus was coach of Israeli side Maccabi Netanya.
BDST: 1646 HRS, JULY 28, 2010