IIn the past few weeks, Joachim Löw only saw his captain on TV how his captain stood and then raised a row of trophies into the air. Now Bayern’s guarantee of success, Manuel Neuer, is back live with the national coach and should make a decisive contribution to the fact that the German national team finally breaks the latest curse this Saturday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Nations League and on the ARD) in the Ukraine. “It’s important that we win another game,” said Neuer after arriving in Kiev. “The last game we were all in together was eleven months ago. It was also our last success. We want to build on that. “
The 34-year-old newcomer is more than ever a symbol for the all-important winner gene. With FC Bayern, he has received five title trophies since the restart of professional football after the corona lockdown – more confetti rain was not possible. “Of course we have collected a lot of titles,” said Neuer, hoping that the national team can learn from it: “The team spirit was decisive.”
Ter Stegen displaced
“It’s good to have Manuel in the back. The security that he exudes and the experience that he brings are good for every team in the world, ”said Neuer’s Munich team-mate Leon Goretzka after one of Bayern’s triumphs. Neuer shone in all competitions. He was voted the season’s best Champions League goalkeeper by a wide margin. Neuer is setting standards again as a goalkeeper, just as he did as a Libero goalkeeper at the 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil.
Since 2010 he has been a regular in goal at all major tournaments of the national team. That will – if nothing extraordinary happens – also be the same for the EM, which has been postponed to summer 2021. Nobody speaks of a competition for number one at Löw. At the botched World Cup in Russia in 2018, Bayer, previously plagued by injuries, wobbled and challenger Marc-André ter Stegen felt his chance – and later demanded it. Löw gave the regular goalkeeper of FC Barcelona a few games in the DFB jersey. According to media reports, Ter Stegen is about to extend his contract with the Spanish runners-up. It is only “a matter of days”, wrote the sports newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” on Friday.
National coach Joachim Löw prepares his players for the duel with Ukraine in the Nations League.
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Image: dpa
After FC Bayern’s spectacular 8: 2 with Neuer against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, the pecking order is clear again. Especially since Ter Stegen had to undergo an operation on his right knee after the eight-goal nightmare in the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon. The 28-year-old former Gladbacher spoke of a preventive measure at the time. But Ter Stegen has still not returned to the lawn. Kevin Trapp from Eintracht Frankfurt and Bernd Leno from Arsenal FC are the substitute goalkeepers in Ukraine.
In Kiev, Neuer, who was in the DFB goal for the last time before the corona pandemic in November 2019, will play his 93rd international match. The Gelsenkirchen native should make 100 in the EM year 2021 if he stays healthy. The end of his era in the national team is not in sight. Is Neuer just behind the year lost in the DFB team due to the Corona crisis? At Bayern, he has already extended his contract until summer 2023. No, you couldn’t quite see it that way, replied the goalkeeper: “I was injured for almost two years. If I did that, I wouldn’t stop playing at all. ”But he also emphasized:“ I’m fit, I feel really good, I enjoy football. ”
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