If any player did not deserve this, it was Bayern Munich’s legendary goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
For the first 88 minutes of that Champions League semi-final second-leg clash away to Real Madrid, Bayern’s veteran shot stopper was rolling back the years to prove that his age – 38 these days – really is nothing more than just a number.
It was a performance reminiscent, in some ways, of the one-man rearguard action which kept Manchester United at arms’ length while in the Schalke net over a decade earlier; two stellar last-four performances looking set to bookend a remarkable career at the pinnacle of European football.
That was, however, until Neuer spilled a shot at the feet of Joselu. The Real Madrid substitute levelled and, just three minutes later, Bayern became the latest Champions League-chasing club to find themselves on the wrong end of Los Blancos’ fabled party piece.
Bayern Munich need a Manuel Neuer successor
Neuer arguably epitomises where Bayern have gone wrong in recent years. The bulk of that treble-winning side from 2020 remains four years on, the Bavarian giants loyalty to a core of declining, ageing players doing them more harm than good.
Club legend or not, Bayern opting to hand the number one jersey back to Neuer after he recovered from a broken leg – while selling the younger man Yann Sommer to Inter Milan – signified a dearth of coherent, long-term thinking.
A move to bring in Giorgi Mamardashvili as competition and then Neuer’s eventual successor fell through, meanwhile, in circumstances that do not reflect well on a much-criticised Bayern board.
“My father and my agent were in Munich, settling the final details of the negotiations,” Valencia’s Mamardashvili, who HITC understands is a target for Chelsea and Newcastle United these days, tells Geo Team.
“I was already looking for a house in Munich where I should live. But, in the end, it turned out that they couldn’t pay the amount that was needed. It was 35 million (euros), I think.”
Could former Liverpool youngster get massive move?
With Neuer set to turn 39 next season, Bayern surely cannot afford to kick the can down the road much further. Whether the Mamardashvili ship has sailed – Valencia do appear ready to sell but there is Premier League interest these days – remains to be seen.
Could Bayern instead pursue a goalkeeper who’s move to the Bundesliga has already been confirmed, Kamil Grabara joining VFL Wolfsburg from Copenhagen this summer? Tomas Gravesen, the iconic Danish midfielder who has watched Grabara develop into the ‘league’s best goalkeeper’ in Scandinavia certainly thinks the Poland international can aim higher than the Volkswagen Arena.
“Wolfsburg is not the final destination for Kamil Grabara,” Gravesen tells Tipsbladet of the one-time Liverpool youngster, defending him despite a recent dip in form.
“Wolfsburg is the next stepping stone in his career. If he comes to Wolfsburg and underperforms, the stepping stone will be very small. But if he comes to Wolfsburg and performs as he has done at FC Copenhagen in the first two years, then Wolfsburg is just the next stepping stone.
“Then, it might be Bayern Munich or the Premier League. A football player never thinks that he has reached the end of the road.”
Still only 25, Grabara joined Copenhagen for £3 million back in 2021 after failing to make a single first-team appearance for Liverpool. He did, however, play 28 times during a loan spell at Huddersfield Town in England’s second tier.
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