For years now, Bayern Munich is untouchable in Bundesliga. If there were situations during the last 10 years in which their consecutive titles were in danger, it was only because of Bayern, and not any other team. The Bavarians have been their own worst enemy in the last decade and the recent crisis has just proven that, again. Just like after last season’s quarrel and drama between Robert Lewandowski and the club, or the coach Robert Kovač and his players a couple years ago, now we have another ‘situation’ in a tricky time for the German giant and it involves his captain and his future in the club. And all that ahead of the tricky Champions League draw with PSG. A year ago, Robert Lewandowski also had problems with Nagelsmann and went public with his criticism. Now it’s Manuel Neuer, two of Bayern’s biggest players in recent years who worked under several coaches. Thomas Müller is observing the situation closely [@georg_holzner, @kicker] pic.twitter.com/x2BBvI56NS— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) February 5, 2023 Bayern had three draws at the start of the season, and Gucci Gnabry ‘situation’ also came about during that period, but it’s just a small and irrelevant episode compared to the crisis involving Manuer Neuer. This whole thing started by his own fault, as Bayern’s captain somewhat carelessly went to skiing after the World Cup and ended up injured. All of a sudden, the club went into the panic mode, trying to find a suitable replacement, since Neuer was ruled out for the rest of the season. Then, coach Julian Nagelsmann decided to fire the long-term goalkeeper coach Toni Topalovic, who arrived years ago in the package with Neuer from Schalke and Manuel’s request. The pair always worked together and even spend holiday together, but Julian has another idea how goalkeepers should be trained. Worse of all, he found out that Topalovic leaked and that was the last straw.Pressure cooker Bayern – Neuer: They ripped out my heart! Brazzo: You put your interests above the club’sBut Neuer got so annoyed that he gave an unauthorized interview for The Athletic, blasting the club for sacking Topalovic and causing a further stir at Munich. “It was a blow for me – when I was already on the ground. I felt like my heart was being ripped out. It was the most brutal thing I’ve experienced in my career” said Neuer, causing the chain reaction from both club’s CEO Oliver Kahn (“What Manuel does neither justice to him as captain nor to the values of FC Bayern. In addition, his statements come at the wrong time because we are facing very important games”) and coach Nagelsmann (“I, from Manuel’s perspective, would not have given the interview. Especially when it reads that the club is in the foreground. Of course it doesn’t exactly help to calm things down”). Julian Nagelsmann (before the game) on Manuel Neuer: “I wouldn’t have given the interview. We have important weeks ahead. It doesn’t help calm things down. It keeps the newspapers busy.” [@DAZN_DE] pic.twitter.com/4hgYubIb9P— OWURA YESU (@jacobOwusu17) February 6, 2023 And for one, famous German footballer and Bayern’s player Lothar Matthaus would strip Neuer of his captaincy. “Manuel Neuer is no longer acceptable as Bayern captain! He skied negligently and is now giving an unauthorised interview in which he vehemently attacks the club. Hadn’t he said a few weeks ago that no one was above the club? And now this. What bothered me a lot about Manuel’s interview is the exaggerated choice of words. His heart was torn out. With all understanding: no one died, no child is seriously ill, it is the separation of an employee to whom he was very close” said Matthaus in his column for Sky Sport Germany. Wolves pay the price of Bayern’s piled-up frustration: Bavarians bag three in the opening 20 minutesSo, what are Bayern’s keeper options? He won’t be able to participate in any games until June, and with this recent outburst, he might have just closed his door to Bayern permanently. He is 36 and has another year in his contract, but if his replacement Yann Sommer turns out to be in form like he was in Borussia Monchengladbach, Naglelsmann will have an easy task. Sommer is two years younger and has smaller wage, while Alexander Nubel will come back from Monaco to fight for the Number 1 spot also. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6996814##Neuer must try to patch things up with his coach as soon as possible, but it doesn’t look like he’s prepared to do so, since Naglesmann confirmed yesterday that no such conversation have taken place. The only available option for the German national keeper is to hope that Julian will run into a series of bad performances so that the Bayern brass decided to sack him in June. For that to happen, Naglesmann would need to lose the PSG tie and to make the 11th consecutive Bundesliga title race uncertain. So far, the more likely scenario is that Manuel Neuer won’t play anymore games for Bayern Munich.
