Neuer en route with Bayern: “Hit when I was down”

“I thought about everything, even about my future at this club”. There is an open conflict between Manuel Neuer and Bayern. Verbal, but tough, also considering how careful the Munich club are to check all the words of their players. But this time the goalkeeper did his own thing and in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “The Athletic” he spared no harsh criticism of the club. It almost looked like Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous interview before leaving Manchester United, even if Neuer didn’t he went so far.

The triggering cause

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The theme is the sacking of the goalkeeping coach, Toni Tapalovic, after eleven years. A figure who was like a brother to the goalkeeper and who was fired on the spot last January 23, on the eve of a match, while Neuer was still recovering after breaking his tibia due to a fall on skis. Tapalovic was covertly accused of reporting to the goalkeeper what the coaching staff said, a sort of spy in the locker room. And Neuer yesterday shot zero:”It was a hard blow for me, they hit me when I was already on the ground. I felt like my heart had been ripped out. This was the most brutal thing I’ve experienced in my career. And to say that I have already experienced a lot”. The allegations against Tapalovic also affected him directly: “There was no reason why I could understand. Things were said that I don’t agree with. Nothing I heard ruled out the possibility of talking and sorting things out. At Bayern we want to be different, a family. And then something happens that I’ve never felt before. It’s a sad fact for everyone: for the club, for Tapa, for the staff and for all the goalkeepers, myself included.”

Unknown Nagelsmann

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When Neuer returns to the dressing room, he’ll have to talk to the coach: “I’ll work with him professionally” the captain said again, remaining very cold. Even if the goalkeeper denies this hypothesis, for many Tapalovic’s ouster also seemed like a spite against Neuer who was injured last December 10 in a leisure activity, mountaineering skiing, putting the club in trouble because now he will have to stay out all season: “When the accident happened, I felt like crying. I also called the club managers, apologized to them and said I was sorry. I’m not a coward who hides.” And now he has proved it.