Manuel Neuer is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga side, Bayern Munich. Let’s have a glimpse at some of the famous rivalries of Manuel Neuer.
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Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, Manuel Neuer is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga side, Bayern Munich. Neuer has spent all of his senior career in Germany, beginning with Schalke 04. He made his senior debut for Schalke in 2006. After spending the next five seasons with them, Neuer earned a move to the most successful German side, Bayern Munich. Manuel Neuer is widely accredited as a complete and modern goalkeeper. Over the last decade, he has been the most consistent and best performing goalkeeper. Blessed with a tall and physical stature, Manuel Neuer is a commanding presence in the box.
Being such an important figure for Bayern Munich and the German National Team, Neuer has had to endure some stressful relations with several footballers including some of his own teammates. Rivalries are something which are not new to Manuel Neuer having faced them due to both on-field performances and off the field issues too. Let’s have a glimpse at some of the famous rivalries of Manuel Neuer.
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If there is anything that the German National Team is blessed with then it’s the talent that is stacked in the goalkeeping department. With two of the best shot-stoppers in the world in Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen both playing for Germany, it’s a headache that any manager would like to have. However, this competition turned ugly for the German team and the fans in 2019. After the 2017/18 season, Ter Stegen had started for his country owing to the serious injury that Neuer had suffered a year earlier. However, come the World Cup and Neuer still found himself as the number one for Germany. Despite the disappointments of Russia 2018 and the poor form that continued till the UEFA Nations League in 2019, then German coach, Joachim Low preferred to go with his usual choice of starting Neuer as the man between the posts.
All this led to Ter Stegen coming out to media and admitting it was tough to sit on the bench all the time. Neuer in response hit back at the Barcelona number one saying that his attitude is not good enough for the team unity. Even Bayern Munich’s president at the time Uli Hoeness got involved threatening that if Ter Stegen was to replace Neuer as Germany’s number one, then Bayern would stop releasing its players for the German National Team.
Arguably the best goalkeeper of his generation against the best forward of his generation. Manuel Neuer against Lionel Messi has always promised to be an exciting matchup. While Messi has given the best of footballers headaches and tensions, Neuer certainly is an exception. The year was 2015 and the stage was the Champions League semifinal between Bayern Munich and Barcelona. In the pre-match interview, Neuer made a confident yet bold statement.
The German reportedly proclaimed that he will show Messi who is the boss and will smash his authority on the Argentine just like he did in the 2014 World Cup final which went pretty well for Manuel Neuer and Germany. However, this time, the plan didn’t work out so well as Lionel Messi produced a performance for the ages and scored two sensational goals past Neuer with his second goal being a lob over the German that cemented itself in the history books as one of the greatest Champions League goals of all time. Manuel Neuer must certainly have regretted saying those words.
In this case, no feud arised from any interviews or comments rather this legendary rivalry is purely based upon on-field performances. Gianluigi Buffon is one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time and one of the greatest icons of Italian football. Neuer on the hand is the face and the guardian of football of Germany. Naturally, this added more fire to the feud by labelling this as the rivalry between two great footballing countries.
Both legends have enjoyed spectacular careers in their own perspectives winning trophies both collectively and individually. The two superstars have won the greatest prize, the World Cup also winning the Golden Glove in the process. However what separates Neuer from his great rival is the Champions League title which has continued to elude Buffon over the years despite reaching the final three times while Neuer has a couple of European titles in his trophy cabinet. Their rivalry was tested at the quarter-finals of the 2015/16 Champions League season, when Bayern went up against Buffon’s Juventus. Neuer won the test quite convincingly in the end as Bayern Munich emerged victorious 6-4 on aggregate.
