For many years, Manuel Neuer was considered untouchable in Munich. Since the night in Madrid, the club has known that with the upheaval in the summer they also have to ask the goalkeeper question.
For Manuel Neuer, 38 years old, 721 appearances for FC Bayern, a new life as a goalkeeper begins this Thursday. From today on, one scene and one sentence will haunt him, and Neuer will no longer be able to get rid of both of them; not even the end of his career would bring relief.
The scene: Minute 88 in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Champions League semi-final Real against Bayern. Vinicius Junior shoots at Neuer’s goal from 20 meters, the ball briefly touches the grass while flying. Neuer tries to grab it with both hands, but it hits his chest and drips back onto the field. Joselu pushes it over the line, equalizes, Bayern’s 1-0 lead is gone.
The sentence: There was “a minimal mole in there,” said Neuer after the game, and by that he meant a small mound of earth on the grass that supposedly had significantly changed the trajectory of the ball.
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Hard to say which is worse, the scene or the sentence. In any case, with the legend of the mole, Neuer opened up a whole universe for scorn and ridicule. It’s only a matter of time before it’s said that FC Bayern was buried by a mole in Madrid. Expect a firework of animal metaphors on Twitter, plus memes on Instagram, and Manuel Neuer will be the idiot in all of these jokes.
Long suppressed debate
The fact that people would smile and laugh at Neuer seemed almost unimaginable until Wednesday evening, up until that 88th minute. Neuer was always the reliable one, the support, even at the beginning against Real. He wiped away balls that the observer could already see in the goal, fearlessly threw himself at the attackers Vinicius Junior and Bellingham, and built up the game from behind with precise passes.
But then, the error.
Not only is he causing malice on social media, but he is also starting a debate that has long been suppressed by FC Bayern and also the DFB: Is Neuer really that good anymore? Hasn’t it reached its peak long ago? At 38 years old, still number one – are there really no younger people?
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Valid questions. They first became loud in the winter of 2022, during the 2022 World Cup. Neuer made a serious mistake in the first group game against Japan, he opened the so-called short corner, Takuma Asano scored to make it 2-1 for Japan. It is a defeat that should cost the national team a place in the round of 16 in Qatar.
However, the criticism of Neuer quickly faded away; there were overlapping debates at the time, the rainbow armband, and initial doubts about national coach Hansi Flick. Both are fortunate for Neuer.
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Neuer cannot hope for such a coincidence. Everything at FC Bayern will be put to the test after this season, the first without winning a title since 2011/12. This also includes the goalkeeper position.
With the aura of the untouchable
Neuer has been playing in Munich for 13 years now, and in all these years the club has not managed to build a strong number two. Sven Ulreich and Daniel Peretz accept the role of reservists without complaint, and the only ambitious one, Alexander Nübel, has fled. He was loaned out to Monaco in 2020 and then to Stuttgart, where he is now a regular on the team that recently beat FC Bayern 3-1.
In Munich, Nübel is still listed in the “Talent” category, as the goalkeeper of the future, even though he is already 27 years old. So far, only Manuel Neuer has decided when this future begins. He blocked Nübel’s career in Munich; he didn’t even allow him to play in the DFB Cup, which, as is customary, the number two can play.
A similar picture with the national team. Neuer doesn’t give up, but he has had many good years with the DFB, crowned in 2014 by winning the 2014 World Cup title in Brazil. Unlike FC Bayern, there is a world-class man who could take over directly from Neuer: Marc-André ter Stegen, once trained at Borussia Mönchengladbach and a haven for FC Barcelona for ten years. But no national coach has dared to take away Neuer’s number one position so far. Not Joachim Löw, not Hansi Flick, not even Julian Nagelsmann. Just as if Neuer would stay young forever. Neuer has been struggling with foot injuries for years, which have kept him out of action for several months at a time.
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At least in the national team, Neuer’s power seems to be dwindling somewhat. He lost the captaincy to Ilkay Gündogan; At the same time, coach Nagelsmann assured at the course in March that he was planning to have Neuer as the starting goalkeeper for the European Championships. Neuer suffered a muscle injury during training in Frankfurt – and was immediately given the confidence to do so.
One of Manuel Neuer’s great achievements is to have surrounded himself with an aura of inviolability for a decade. Nobody really dares to approach him, and that may be because everyone knows how vicious Neuer can be when it comes to protecting their own interests.
In January 2023, FC Bayern fired Neuer’s goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic. Neuer then gave a newspaper interview that had never been read before. The club had “torn his heart out,” Neuer complained, and the separation from Tapalovic was “the worst thing I’ve experienced in my career. And I’ve really experienced a lot.” Neuer also released an English version of the interview, which seemed like an application letter for the Premier League.
Bayern forgave him all of that. His performances were always good, on some days even world-class, and Neuer never made a fatal mistake.
But now Neuer has also experienced his Oliver Kahn moment. World Cup 2002, Germany against Brazil, Rivaldo shot, Kahn lets the ball bounce at Ronaldo’s feet, shot, final lost.
Kahn then fell into a hole and it took him years to recover from the mistake. Manuel Neuer no longer has this time. FC Bayern knows that, the DFB knows that, Neuer knows that too.
An era may have come to an end on the evening of May 8, 2024 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. And it’s definitely not a mole’s fault.
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