Aston Villa uses positioning
Emery: Neuer eyed as FC Bayern’s point of attack
October 3, 2024, 11:35 a.m
Manuel Neuer is a point of attack in FC Bayern’s game – this is how Champions League opponents Aston Villa analyze it. And exploits the knowledge mercilessly. Coaches Vincent Kompany and Joshua Kimmich stand behind the goalkeeper.
Once feared by everyone as insurmountable – now identified as a weak point? Aston Villa doesn’t make Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer look good. Coach Unay Emery revealed his preparatory analysis after his club’s 1-0 win against the Bundesliga club in the Champions League. And Neuer was the focus here.
Before the duel, the coaching team really looked at the “sweeperkeeper” as a possible point of attack, Emery revealed. “During the analysis, we talked a lot about Neuer’s generally very high positioning,” said the coach.
Joker Jhon Duran promptly caught the 2014 world champion too far in front of his goal with the winning goal (79th). “I knew he would shoot because he had this opportunity in Neuer’s head,” said Emery about the goal that gave Villa, as in the 1982 national championship cup, unexpected success over the favored Bayern.
“One of the best goalkeepers in history!”
“Unfortunately that was a hit, that’s part of the calculated risk,” emphasized Neuer: “Maybe I can stand two meters further back, but it would still have been uncertain whether I would get it. That’s our game.” He doesn’t want to change anything about it, added coach Vincent Kompany. Joshua Kimmich seconded: “We often benefit from Manu being high.”
Neuer’s goalkeeper colleague Emiliano Martinez was full of praise for the 20-year-old hero Duran. “He’s a super joker,” he said of the Colombian, who had already scored his fifth goal as a substitute this season. “He out-jumped Neuer, one of the best goalkeepers in history!”
Unai Emery has thus repeated his story. Back in April 2022, the coach and the outsiders FC Villarreal shocked Julian Nagelsmann’s FC Bayern in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and now he has inflicted their first defeat on Kompany’s Munich team in the premier class – with an obviously very clear plan.