After more than a year, Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer managed to score again on Tuesday. Even his colleagues were amazed.
On the pitch they had harmonised reasonably well, but after the final whistle Dayot Upamecano had to politely contradict his four years younger compatriot.
When Tanguy Nianzou was asked on the FC Bayern TV channel after the 5-2 win over Benfica Lisbon which of the five goals had been the most beautiful, the 19-year-old centre-back chose the first: “King, cross to Robert, bit of chip, poof, Robert, header – very good goal,” was Nianzou’s summary of the 1-0 in German.
Upamecano, however, preferred to remember the fifth. “The long ball from Manu …”, said the ex-Leipzig player with a beatific smile, “already cool.” In the middle of his own half, Manuel Neuer had played a back pass straight to the top, Lewandowski cleverly received the ball – poof, goal. “That was a great assist from Manu,” said Upamecano.
The last time Neuer set up goals was in 2020 and 2011
And even though Neuer has been the epitome of the goalkeeper who plays along for many years: a direct assist on a goal is something special for him, too. It was his seventh as a professional, but a first in the Champions League. In his 122 previous appearances in this competition, he had not scored a goal.
The last time Neuer set up the decisive 3:0 – also by Lewandowski – was in the 2020 DFB Cup final against Bayer Leverkusen (4:2). He did not wear a Bayern shirt for the remaining five assists: Four he collected between 2006 and 2011 as Schalke keeper in the Bundesliga, one in the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup against England (4:1).
The special fifth goal completed the “unbelievably good” (coach Julian Nagelsmann) Bayern game against Benfica. Neuer also found his team “very dominant” and could even live quite well with the two goals conceded, although they were the first in the current competition.
“We didn’t have two centre-backs with us today due to injury,” he recalled of the stricken Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Süle, “but we still showed a good defensive performance. The players who were on the pitch” – in the back three that is Upamecano, Nianzou and Benjamin Pavard – “played well. “
That the trickiest question they had to ask themselves after the game was about the most beautiful goal at least showed that not too much had gone wrong in the fourth Champions League appearance of 2021/22.
