Manuel Neuer recently caused a stir with some statements.Image: dpa / Soeren Stache
Bundesliga
“I felt like my heart was being ripped out, that was the craziest thing I’ve experienced in my career”said Manuel Neuer last week in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “The Athletic” about the surprising dismissal of his friend and goalkeeper coach Toni Tapalović – and thus triggered no less than an earthquake at Bayern.
What Neuer said in the interviews, will “Neither does it do justice to him as captain nor to the values of FC Bayern” CEO Oliver Kahn then sharply criticized him. Board member for sport Hasan Salihamidžić also made it clear that he expected Neuer to behave differently. Now, however, a club legend has made himself strong for the recently much scolded DFB captain.
Sepp Maier protects Neuer
Across from “sports1“explains Sepp Maier, who himself stood between the posts for the German record champions for 17 years, that he had already expected such a reaction from Neuer. “He’s the Bayern captain and he’s allowed to speak his mind. He’s also a close friend of Tapalović. I don’t understand all the excitement.”
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Throughout his career, Sepp Maier has only played in goal for FC Bayern Munich and was world and European champion with Germany. After his active career, he was goalkeeping coach for the German national team from 1988 to 2004 and for Bayern from 1994 to 2008.
Maier was sorted out by the then national coach Jürgen Klinsmann himself in 2004, so he can empathize with Neuer’s current situation in several ways. He therefore considers the harsh reactions of Bayern officials to be unlawful:
“Of course I’m on Manu’s side. That’s logical. I used to be a goalkeeper too, so I care more about Manu. I also know him and Tapalović well.”
Markus Babbel: “extreme, offended vanity”
The former Bundesliga coach Markus Babbel, on the other hand, strikes a different note. Even if he can understand Neuer’s disappointment, “one shouldn’t forget one thing: he is a highly paid professional, he deserves it because of his performance. But he’s still an employee. And it’s not for an employee to say something like that in public.”the former Bayern professional is in the “ran Bundesliga web show“.
Markus Babbel coached various Bundesliga clubs Photo: imago/ ulrich wagner
Babbel suspects the DFB captain’s “extreme, offended vanity” and “personal, human disappointment” behind the interview. “I think he thought he was more senior and that he had been spoken to before something like that happened.”the 50-year-old continues.
Most recently, several people from the football business were critical of Manuel Neuer’s statements. The German record national player Lothar Matthäus found that Neuer was even “no longer bearable”.
Bayern President Herbert Hainer has already opposed this and emphasized to “BR24 Sport”: “There was no question of terminating the contract at all.” But he would think so too “Incomprehensible and disappointing that Manuel didn’t seek the way to us, but went directly to the public.”
When Alexander Nübel switched to Bayern Munich in 2020, the league shook its head: Although Bayern had already identified the now 26-year-old as the next German number 1, hardly anyone could understand the deal.
