After being substituted against Zagreb, Manuel Neuer’s availability for the away game in Bremen is still up in the air. The FC Bayern goalkeeper can decide for himself.
On Tuesday evening, Manuel Neuer had a bit of sympathy after he had made himself reasonably comfortable on the FC Bayern substitutes’ bench. When the actual captain and first-choice goalkeeper took his place next to Leon Goretzka and the others, his deputy Sven Ulreich had already had to make two unexpected saves. In the end, these were “only” two wake-up calls in the 9-2 defeat to Zagreb, with Ulreich having done a great job to prevent the possible equalizer.
Neuer had watched the whole thing from the sidelines because he had landed uncomfortably just a few minutes into the game after colliding with Dinamo striker Bruno Petkovic and then complained of slight thigh problems. “We didn’t want to take any risks,” said coach Vincent Kompany, explaining the decision to replace Neuer at half-time. The goalkeeper himself spoke of “nothing serious”, rather “a small thing”.
Kompany on Neuer: “It looks good”
However, two days after the Champions League gala, Neuer was absent from training, instead working individually in the interior of the Säbener Straße. “Normally he should train with the group today,“ said Kompany this Friday, one day before the away game at Werder Bremen. The substitution against the Croats was ‘more of a precaution,’ he said.
”We will discuss it together and decide after training,” explained the coach, who was optimistic: ”It looks good, I must say.” The record champions are not facing any further absences, as Kompany reported: “Otherwise, there are no crazy things.”
In the preseason, Neuer made his comeback after surviving a broken leg in the 8-0 win against Darmstadt and then also returned to the national team goal.