FOOTBALL is a universal currency. The first world war demonstrated just that when troops climbed out of the trenches to kick the ball around on Christmas Day. Germans and Englishmen have always debated the great game, usually centred on 1966 and the infamous “over the line, or not” argument. In 1978, on holiday in Spain, a group of teenagers bumped into a bunch of Germans, most of whom could not speak English. Being Brits ourselves, we could not speak any German apart from words learned from comics: “Himmel”, “Achtung” and “Ja!” and that was about it. But we knew all about Borrusia Moenchengladbach and Bayern Munich. We admired Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Günter Netzer. And our friends from Westphalia were familiar with Liverpool,…