Michael Tarnat

He was also a regular in the Germany national team at the 1998 World Cup finals in France, appearing in four out of five matches played by the team at the tournament before they were surprisingly eliminated by Croatia in the quarterfinals. In the group game against Yugoslavia, his free kick led to Siniša Mihajlović scoring an own goal.

Early years

Born in Hilden, Tarnat started to play football at the club SV Hilden-Nord before starting his professional career in 1990 when he joined MSV Duisburg. He made his Bundesliga debut on 2 August 1991 in Duisburg's home match against VfB Stuttgart and went on to make 58 appearances for the club in the league in the following two seasons, also scoring his first Bundesliga goal in Duisburg's 1–1 draw away against VfB Leipzig on 27 August 1993. He moved to Karlsruher SC in the summer of 1994 and grew into one of the team's stars, alongside Thomas Häßler and Thorsten Fink. His trademark was his super-hard left-footed shot, which made him one of the best free-kick takers of his Bundesliga generation. In three seasons with KSC, Tarnat made 81 Bundesliga appearances and scored seven goals for the club in the league. In 1996, he was called up into the Germany national team for the first time and made his international debut in Germany's 1998 World Cup qualifier against Armenia on 9 October 1996.

Bayern Munich

In 1997, he got his big break when Bayern Munich bought him along with Fink. He played well on his left flank, good enough to give star left full-back Bixente Lizarazu almost a full season on the bench. In the following seasons, trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld would often play them both, giving Bayern one of the best left flanks in Europe. Tarnat's Bayern career was extremely successful. He was German champion in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003, won the DFB-Pokal…

Club

International

Tarnat's son Niklas Tarnat is also a professional footballer, currently playing for TSV 1860 Munich.