At the very end, it was 3-1 for FC Bayern, Salzburg’s Karim Adeyemi ran towards the Munich goal. It was a promising attack, Adeyemi was a bit ahead of the defense and only the goalkeeper of the opponent was standing in front of him. But that was exactly the problem. The goalkeeper standing there was Manuel Neuer, and he decided to fend off the ball with his foot and do something again that he had already done several times this Wednesday evening in the Munich arena: He parried very strongly .
Okay, Neuer’s rescue act was no longer really necessary in stoppage time, Adeyemi had previously been sidelined. And a 2: 3 in the sixth minute of stoppage time would have come too late to prevent the Munich victory. But it was fitting for this group game in the Champions League against Salzburg that Neuer was allowed to distinguish himself again in the end (which led to a massive clap by Jérôme Boateng). The fact that FC Bayern won 3-1 (1-0) and reached the round of 16 prematurely was also down to the Munich goalkeeper.
Bayern coach Hansi Flick said a pretty big sentence about Neuer after the game: “I just think he’s in the shape of his life.” Flick called it “sensational how he parries big chances and really saves us goals”. You probably don’t have to debate whether Neuer was in better shape at some point around his world title, his first triple in 2013 or his many career parades and intercepted balls.
Either way, it is correct that Neuer, 34, is currently holding up extremely well. And in view of this sporting development, some of the recent debates seem very far away – such as those about the time Marc-André ter Stegen required to play in the DFB team last year or the quarrel before the contract extension in Munich.
Neuer had already shone against Bremen at the weekend, now he was particularly noticeable in two scenes. The first fell in the 15th minute. Salzburg’s Mergim Berisha was cleared by a through pass and penetrated into the penalty area. But Neuer rushed out of his gate almost as if on rails and blocked Berisha’s attempt. Enock Mwepu’s shot shortly afterwards wasn’t a major problem for him.
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