Manuel Neuer interview
Interview with Manuel Neuer
Somewhere around Frankfurt the conversation breaks for a moment. “Are you still there,” Manuel Neuer asks. A few moments later he apologizes for the short loss of contact, says there was a tunnel.
It’s a strange kind of interview. It’s just before midnight, Manuel Neuer sits in the bus with his team mates, on his way back from the last match in Mainz; he accepted this interview just before his vacation. He knows there are a lot of questions at the end of this Manuel-Neuer-year, so he once again talks about the WC and about the honour he will receive on January 12th. Then he, the goal keeper, will stand on the stage in Zurich with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when they will chose the World’s best footballer of the year.
Neuer would have liked to explain why he only missed three shots on his goal so far this season, but that’s not possible anymore because Soto has scored the fourth goal against him only hours before this interview. Neuer is tired but he says he can live with that.
Mr.Neuer - when does a goalkeeper realise it’s time for a break?
A goalkeeper mostly has a problem with mental fitness. With time you realise that your head gets tired. For me it started around the beginning of December. I started to count down the matches until Christmas.
That even you have that problem! You are the type who always wants to play
That’s true. I rarely miss a match. Still - at some point even I need a vacation. I think in 2014 I am the German player with the most match time.
Most players fly to warmer regions during winter break. How about you?
On the 24th I go to church and on the 25th and 26th I usually eat a lot of good, traditional food. Vacation away has to happen too, though. Going to enjoy that wholeheartedly.
Have you ever read your contract? Are you even allowed to eat cookies?
Sure I am. And I will.
How about Christmas. Are you a professional there or a romantic?
Christmas is special because the “Christkind” (in Germany it’s not Santa who brings the presents, it’s a little angel called “Christkind”) puts something under the tree. This childhood ritual somehow stayed with me.
How was it when you were a kid? Did you always get a new pair of gloves for Christmas?
Not the latest ones, but yeah, I got some from time to time. The club gave them to me later, but only two pairs a season and I usually had those through after two months. So sports presents were always part of Christmas for me. I never really had a taste for Lego or Playmobil.
When you sit under your tree this year: do you still feel your shoulder?
You are talking about the injury from the DFB cup final?
Yes, that injury. There was a lot of hub-hub about that before the WC
I am an avid tennis player, and I couldn’t do that for six months. But I want to start up again during summer.
You can tell us now: did you worry about the WC back then?
One or two days after it happened, before the diagnosis - yeah, I was a little restless about it. I didn’t know where I was. After the diagnosis I knew I would make it.
At the end you were right on time. During the training camp in Italy you couldn’t do any goalkeeper training, only in Brazil you could begin with it, so you were just good for the first match.
Yes. But I never really doubted it. I knew it wouldn’t work without pain, especially when throwing the ball, but at a WC the adrenalin has to work for you. And it got better match by match.
People say 2014 is your year.
What am I supposed to say to that? I can only point at my team mates, in both teams. Without them it wouldn’t have been a good year for me, without them I would have been without anything. And both coaches, Pep and Jogi, like the kind of football that fits my way to interpret my position.
Pep once said that he came to Munich with you and Philip Lahm in mind.
With the risky way I am playing it is very important that the coach has my back. That helps to make the right decisions on the field. Pep’s philosophy is good for my game and with that kind of self-esteem, that security, I am joinin the National Team too.
Was 2014 just your most successful year or your best one as well?
The way I interpret the game experience is important. It’s always about judging the risk, when to stay, when to go out, and every match on a high level makes me better. Because of that, with all the experience from the WC, 2014 was my best year. I had to face new situations, so now I can deal with them better in the future.
The interviewer then asks him about the match against Algeria. He says it was interesting because he more or less played the Libero.
When you think about scenes, is it one from the Algeria match or another?
Well, there are several scenes I remember where I didn’t look so good. I put myself under a lot of pressure. But I am not doing this for myself. I think I am suffering from a helper’s syndrome because I see that one of my team mates is in need, so I feel I have to help them. But when you ask about scenes, there is one in the Brazil-match most people haven’t even noticed. I ran to the right to stop a Brazilian attack. Basti covered the goal. My ball went out and then Basti did the kick-off and the ball came to me. So Basti was the goal-keeper in that moment. That was … something else. A strange feeling.
Then he tells the interviewer that he knows each goal that went past him this season. Names the players who got them in.
The interviewer then asks if people fear him now. He jokes that nobody tells him that after a match.
The interviewer mentions that he created a completely new kind of play regarding goalkeepers.
He says: I can only repeat that I didn’t create that kind of play. Edwin van der Sar played just like me. And I also want to mention Jens Lehmann. He was a pretty modern goalkeeper. And as a ball boy I could watch im first hand. Oliver Kahn had a different kind of style, but when it comes to will and the need to succeed, he is certainly someone to look up to.
Do you remember Kahn’s mistake at the WC 2002?
Oh yeah. I was 16, sat in my teacher’s living-room and was so sad. We were at the football lyceum.
Did the goalkeeper misery in WC influence you for Brazil?
No. I avoided the internet mostly during that time. But even if, during a WC you don’t have time for thoughts like that. You just play.
Oliver Kahn was among the best three for the Balon D’Or even with his mistake. Doesn’t that mean you have to win?
*laughs* I doubt it will work that way. But I am very aware of the honour to be named next to Ronaldo and Messi.
He then calls himself a playing goalkeeper.
He is then asked if he knows how Jogi has voted. He says he doesn’t know, but (laughing) he adds he would be hurt if Basti didn’t vote for him. (Which I totally bet he did!)
Do you still think about the match against Real where you got four goals?
No, I don’t dwell on that. Real was better and they deserved to win. But you know where the final is this year, right? (hahah! this one made me laugh so much!) We missed the title in Munich, but now we really want to have it in Berlin!
The interviewer asks him about Bayern and Pep Guardiola. And he says that Pep has explained football in a completely new way. He finishes by explaining that he doesn’t think about retiring at all.
The full interview was published and printed in Süddeutsche Zeitung, Christmas edition, Dec. 24th - printed version.
Somewhere around Frankfurt the conversation breaks for a moment. “Are you still there,” Manuel Neuer asks. A few moments later he apologizes for the short loss of contact, says there was a tunnel.
It’s a strange kind of interview. It’s just before midnight, Manuel Neuer sits in the bus with his team mates, on his way back from the last match in Mainz; he accepted this interview just before his vacation. He knows there are a lot of questions at the end of this Manuel-Neuer-year, so he once again talks about the WC and about the honour he will receive on January 12th. Then he, the goal keeper, will stand on the stage in Zurich with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when they will chose the World’s best footballer of the year.
Neuer would have liked to explain why he only missed three shots on his goal so far this season, but that’s not possible anymore because Soto has scored the fourth goal against him only hours before this interview. Neuer is tired but he says he can live with that.
Mr.Neuer - when does a goalkeeper realise it’s time for a break?
A goalkeeper mostly has a problem with mental fitness. With time you realise that your head gets tired. For me it started around the beginning of December. I started to count down the matches until Christmas.
That even you have that problem! You are the type who always wants to play
That’s true. I rarely miss a match. Still - at some point even I need a vacation. I think in 2014 I am the German player with the most match time.
Most players fly to warmer regions during winter break. How about you?
On the 24th I go to church and on the 25th and 26th I usually eat a lot of good, traditional food. Vacation away has to happen too, though. Going to enjoy that wholeheartedly.
Have you ever read your contract? Are you even allowed to eat cookies?
Sure I am. And I will.
How about Christmas. Are you a professional there or a romantic?
Christmas is special because the “Christkind” (in Germany it’s not Santa who brings the presents, it’s a little angel called “Christkind”) puts something under the tree. This childhood ritual somehow stayed with me.
How was it when you were a kid? Did you always get a new pair of gloves for Christmas?
Not the latest ones, but yeah, I got some from time to time. The club gave them to me later, but only two pairs a season and I usually had those through after two months. So sports presents were always part of Christmas for me. I never really had a taste for Lego or Playmobil.
When you sit under your tree this year: do you still feel your shoulder?
You are talking about the injury from the DFB cup final?
Yes, that injury. There was a lot of hub-hub about that before the WC
I am an avid tennis player, and I couldn’t do that for six months. But I want to start up again during summer.
You can tell us now: did you worry about the WC back then?
One or two days after it happened, before the diagnosis - yeah, I was a little restless about it. I didn’t know where I was. After the diagnosis I knew I would make it.
At the end you were right on time. During the training camp in Italy you couldn’t do any goalkeeper training, only in Brazil you could begin with it, so you were just good for the first match.
Yes. But I never really doubted it. I knew it wouldn’t work without pain, especially when throwing the ball, but at a WC the adrenalin has to work for you. And it got better match by match.
People say 2014 is your year.
What am I supposed to say to that? I can only point at my team mates, in both teams. Without them it wouldn’t have been a good year for me, without them I would have been without anything. And both coaches, Pep and Jogi, like the kind of football that fits my way to interpret my position.
Pep once said that he came to Munich with you and Philip Lahm in mind.
With the risky way I am playing it is very important that the coach has my back. That helps to make the right decisions on the field. Pep’s philosophy is good for my game and with that kind of self-esteem, that security, I am joinin the National Team too.
Was 2014 just your most successful year or your best one as well?
The way I interpret the game experience is important. It’s always about judging the risk, when to stay, when to go out, and every match on a high level makes me better. Because of that, with all the experience from the WC, 2014 was my best year. I had to face new situations, so now I can deal with them better in the future.
The interviewer then asks him about the match against Algeria. He says it was interesting because he more or less played the Libero.
When you think about scenes, is it one from the Algeria match or another?
Well, there are several scenes I remember where I didn’t look so good. I put myself under a lot of pressure. But I am not doing this for myself. I think I am suffering from a helper’s syndrome because I see that one of my team mates is in need, so I feel I have to help them. But when you ask about scenes, there is one in the Brazil-match most people haven’t even noticed. I ran to the right to stop a Brazilian attack. Basti covered the goal. My ball went out and then Basti did the kick-off and the ball came to me. So Basti was the goal-keeper in that moment. That was … something else. A strange feeling.
Then he tells the interviewer that he knows each goal that went past him this season. Names the players who got them in.
The interviewer then asks if people fear him now. He jokes that nobody tells him that after a match.
The interviewer mentions that he created a completely new kind of play regarding goalkeepers.
He says: I can only repeat that I didn’t create that kind of play. Edwin van der Sar played just like me. And I also want to mention Jens Lehmann. He was a pretty modern goalkeeper. And as a ball boy I could watch im first hand. Oliver Kahn had a different kind of style, but when it comes to will and the need to succeed, he is certainly someone to look up to.
Do you remember Kahn’s mistake at the WC 2002?
Oh yeah. I was 16, sat in my teacher’s living-room and was so sad. We were at the football lyceum.
Did the goalkeeper misery in WC influence you for Brazil?
No. I avoided the internet mostly during that time. But even if, during a WC you don’t have time for thoughts like that. You just play.
Oliver Kahn was among the best three for the Balon D’Or even with his mistake. Doesn’t that mean you have to win?
*laughs* I doubt it will work that way. But I am very aware of the honour to be named next to Ronaldo and Messi.
He then calls himself a playing goalkeeper.
He is then asked if he knows how Jogi has voted. He says he doesn’t know, but (laughing) he adds he would be hurt if Basti didn’t vote for him. (Which I totally bet he did!)
Do you still think about the match against Real where you got four goals?
No, I don’t dwell on that. Real was better and they deserved to win. But you know where the final is this year, right? (hahah! this one made me laugh so much!) We missed the title in Munich, but now we really want to have it in Berlin!
The interviewer asks him about Bayern and Pep Guardiola. And he says that Pep has explained football in a completely new way. He finishes by explaining that he doesn’t think about retiring at all.
The full interview was published and printed in Süddeutsche Zeitung, Christmas edition, Dec. 24th - printed version.