Almost a year after his serious skiing accident, Manuel Neuer will be back in the FC Bayern goal on Saturday in the Bundesliga game against SV Darmstadt 98. Coach Thomas Tuchel announced this on Friday.
The time of waiting is over. Manuel Neuer will return to goal for FC Bayern Munich on Saturday, almost a year after his skiing accident at Roßkopf on Spitzingsee, in which he fractured his lower leg. For a long time, club officials and fans wondered whether the 37-year-old would ever lace up his football boots again after this serious injury and, if so, when this would be the case. Now FC Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel announced when asked about a game: “You can assume that. If nothing happens in the final training,” said the coach and knocked three times on the table, “then he will play.” On Saturday in the Bundesliga game against SV Darmstadt 98 the time will finally come.
Neuer played his last game to date in Germany’s early World Cup exit in Qatar on December 1, 2022 against Costa Rica. After the tournament, he broke his tibia and fibula on his right lower leg during a ski tour. “He’s looking forward to it, we’re looking forward to it,” said Tuchel: “I’m sure he’ll get into the rhythm very quickly.”
Ulreich sits back down on the bench without complaint
To date, Neuer has played 117 senior international matches for Germany and 478 Bundesliga games, and he also appeared in the Champions League 131 times. If everything goes normally, there will probably be more bets in all three statistics. Sven Ulreich, who recently represented Neuer with decent performances, will step back into the second tier without complaint: “If Manu should play, then he will make a good comeback. I’m happy for him and will of course sit on the bench,” he said after 3-1 win in the Champions League during the week at Galatasaray Istanbul.
“The two of them are not just colleagues, but friends,” coach Thomas Tuchel said about Neuer and Ulreich last weekend. He should be happy that this personnel change will not cause new unrest in the team due to Ulreich’s attitude. The mood at the German record champions is currently quite tense due to the Mazraoui case.
Hope for a more stable Bayern defense
Manuel Neuer is back in FC Bayern’s starting line-up – this also fuels hopes of a more stable defense than was the case recently. The defense was particularly vulnerable in the Champions League. The lack of defenders has been an issue again and again in recent weeks – especially when all central defenders were unavailable in the DFB Cup game against third division team SC Preußen Münster. “We’ve already seen in training: This is a completely new level of goalkeeping. This makes his defensive colleagues stronger. This is simply a league of its own,” said Tuchel.
According to Tuchel, Neuer’s comeback was also delayed because Neuer first wanted to internalize the processes of the back four – not an easy undertaking when the starting line-up is constantly changing for various reasons and after eight Bundesliga matchdays there is still no established defensive line has.
Neuer’s career was accompanied by many injuries
Neuer’s great experience should help him to quickly get used to the Bundesliga level again and to achieve good coordination with the people in front of him. “Ideally, now would be the moment when we can fly to Asia and distribute playing times. Sometimes a half-time, sometimes 60 minutes. That’s not the case. That’s why we’re hoping for experience. On the intuition of the athlete’s brain. That Manu can do everything with his experience makes up for it,” said Tuchel. After all, this is not Neuer’s first serious injury.
The Bayern professional’s career was already in jeopardy in 2018 after his third metatarsal fracture. This was followed by a thumb injury, calf problems, knee surgery and, in October, a bruised shoulder joint. With the fracture of his lower leg, he suffered one of his most serious injuries at an advanced age as a footballer.
In the second step back to National team?
If Neuer’s comeback is successful, he should also become interesting again for national coach Julian Nagelsmann with a view to the 2024 European Football Championship in his own country. Although Neuer has lost the captain’s armband in the DFB selection – Nagelsmann wants Ilkay Gündogan to remain captain. And most recently, the Bayern keeper was properly represented by Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona) and Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt). But here too, the last word has not yet been spoken about who will be in the German box for the opening game of the European Championship in Munich on June 14th. It is solely in Neuer’s hands.
Our question of the week
Manuel Neuer: Back in goal, but also back to his old strength?
The time of crutches is long gone. Neuer has been training on the pitch again since May and started team training in September. His ambition seems unbroken, but can he cope with the long break?
If he wants to, he can do it again, goalkeeper legend Sepp Maier predicted in the Bild newspaper. He will rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Coach Thomas Tuchel also seems impressed: “His quality in training is so obvious. It’s a very extraordinary goalkeeping game.”
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Source: BR24 October 27, 2023 – 6:30 p.m
