International comeback in March?
Manuel Neuer still denies the DFB secret plan
November 30, 2023, 2:15 p.m
He plays and plays – and how! Manuel Neuer shows his value for FC Bayern in the Champions League and is also pushing back into the DFB team.
“Billiards” player Manuel Neuer casually threw his souvenir jersey over his shoulder and strolled into the night with a broad grin. The FC Bayern captain not only took the blue shirt of his Copenhagen colleague Kamil Grabara with him, but also a reassuring certainty: In this form, his return to the German goal in time for the home European Championship is a sure-fire success.
The 0-0 draw in the Champions League group game against the Danish champions will soon be forgotten, but Neuer’s performance will resonate. Above all because of his triple save in the 87th minute, with which he preserved the series of 39 preliminary round games without defeat. Hand, chest, foot – Neuer played “a little billiards,” as he said with a smile.
Was it the perfect application letter for national coach Julian Nagelsmann? Neuer gave a gentle shake of his head and dismissed it. “He knows me, he’s seen something like that from me before in training and also in games,” said the 37-year-old casually. He is therefore “very calm” about his possible return to the DFB selection at the start of the European Championship year in March.
“Plays in his own league”
Neuer denied the tabloid report that his comeback to the national team at the expense of Marc-André ter Stegen had long been decided. “There is no agreement,” he said, referring to the “good exchange” with those responsible. That means? “We all assume that I’ll be there,” he revealed, “if everything goes normally.”
The confidence is justified. Coach Thomas Tuchel praised Neuer before the game as the “key” to his team’s defensive stability. “Manu stands for himself,” said Leon Goretzka, “he has been playing in his own league almost his entire career.” A fit new guy, he added, “is the best goalkeeper in the world.”
TV expert Michael Ballack really went into raptures. “Absolutely world class, unique in terms of reaction and positional play,” he said, almost embarrassing Neuer in the DAZN interview. “Yes, thank you very much,” he said of the praise, “I’ll do my best.” Because of the long break after his complicated leg fracture, “of course not everything can be as it was before, but I’m training hard.”
Müller wants Neuer at his side
Neuer has just extended his contract until 2025, and there is no end in sight. “I want to go as long as I enjoy it,” he said and after the European Championship final in 2024, which he of course wants to experience as number 1, he set his sights on the “final at home” in the premier class in 2025: “That’s where we want to be everyone there.”
Also Thomas Müller, for whose whereabouts Neuer made a plea. “Thomas simply belongs to Bayern Munich,” he said, they know and value each other, and so the contract extension will certainly “work” for the 34-year-old.
Or, Mr. Müller? “I have no idea,” joked the noble joker after his first starting eleven appearance in this Champions League season. But of course, the second home final after the drama of 2012 is “a little decoy, no question about it”. Especially if you can deny it in front of someone like Manuel Neuer.