Former German international footballer Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, scorer in the “Match of the Century” against Italy in the semi-final of the 1970 World Cup, died at the age of 85 on the night of Monday to Tuesday, announced his daughter Birgit to the German agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP.
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, who had lived in Italy for several decades, died at the San Rafaele hospital in Milan.
German international from 1958 to 1971 (47 caps), Schnellinger remained famous for his equalizer (1-1) in the final moments of regulation time against Italy in the semi-final of the 1970 World Cup (his only goal with the Mannschaft), who then gave a spectacular extension (4-3 for Italy in the end), in what remained as the “Match of the century”.
Player of FC Cologne from 1958 to 1963, he then joined the Italian championship for 12 years, first at Mantua and Roma, but above all at AC Milan from the summer of 1965 for nine seasons.
In Lombardy, “Carlo il biondo” became Italian champion in 1968, winner of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1969 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1968 and 1973.