Manuel Neuer had forgotten how it feels to make a save in the past few weeks: During FC Bayern's walkovers against Hamburger SV (8-0) and SC Paderborn (6-0), the World Cup winner had barely been involved. Fortunately for him, he was given the chance to shine during FCB's 4-1 home victory against 1. FC Köln and made several quality saves. The 28-year-old, named World's Best Goalkeeper of 2014, spoke with DFB.de about the match and offered his opinion on the proposed winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Question: Mr. Neuer, you secured a 4-1 victory but immediately after the game you seemed to be getting the biggest compliments from Pep Guardiola. What did your manager say to you as you were walking off the pitch?
Manuel Neuer: I think that he was quite pleased and satisfied with our victory. We talked about one or two things that happened in the game but everyone is happy now.
Question: Did you talk about the saves that you made?
Neuer: Yes, amongst other things.
Question: So the back-pass that led to the indirect free kick inside the area? Guardiola didn’t appear to agree with the decision during the game.
Neuer: Yes, but that's normal during the game. He is an emotional manager and known for trying to help us from the sidelines during our games. We talked about that scene again, because I was under the impression that Jérôme Boateng was fouled and as a result he poked the ball back towards me. I was expecting the referee to give us a free kick. But that wasn’t the case.
Question: You were leading Köln by two goals. How come they nearly managed to equalise?
Manuel Neuer had forgotten how it feels to make a save in the past few weeks: During FC Bayern's walkovers against Hamburger SV (8-0) and SC Paderborn (6-0), the World Cup winner had barely been involved. Fortunately for him, he was given the chance to shine during FCB's 4-1 home victory against 1. FC Köln and made several quality saves. The 28-year-old, named World's Best Goalkeeper of 2014, spoke with DFB.de about the match and offered his opinion on the proposed winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Question: Mr. Neuer, you secured a 4-1 victory but immediately after the game you seemed to be getting the biggest compliments from Pep Guardiola. What did your manager say to you as you were walking off the pitch?
Manuel Neuer: I think that he was quite pleased and satisfied with our victory. We talked about one or two things that happened in the game but everyone is happy now.
Question: Did you talk about the saves that you made?
Neuer: Yes, amongst other things.
Question: So the back-pass that led to the indirect free kick inside the area? Guardiola didn’t appear to agree with the decision during the game.
Neuer: Yes, but that's normal during the game. He is an emotional manager and known for trying to help us from the sidelines during our games. We talked about that scene again, because I was under the impression that Jérôme Boateng was fouled and as a result he poked the ball back towards me. I was expecting the referee to give us a free kick. But that wasn’t the case.
Question: You were leading Köln by two goals. How come they nearly managed to equalise?
Neuer: Other teams know how to play football too. I think that we played well overall. The only time we weren’t organised in defence was shortly before half-time when Köln scored from a set piece. They created chances after the break and it took us a while to get into our rhythm. But everything went smoothly again once we survived that short spell.
Question: Köln's manager Peter Stöger and their sporting director Jörg Schmadtke praised you for your saves, the first ones you had to make in the game, from Anthony Ujah. How do you do it?
Neuer: It’s nothing special. I just have to trust my instincts; I'm fit and healthy. Sure, I wasn’t able to prove myself as much in the past two games against HSV and Paderborn, but this game was a good test and preparation for the Champions League return leg against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Question: How difficult is it for you to keep your concentration levels up? You play second-tier side Eintracht Braunschweig in the DFB Cup Round of 16 on Wednesday (20:30 CET).
Neuer: It's not really that difficult at all. We all care deeply about reaching the final in Berlin.
Question: What is your opinion on staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar during November and December?
Neuer: I think you would have to look at the entire schedule first. Once I've done that, I can comment on it from a player's perspective. Christmas will be spent at home at least, since the final will already have happened on December 18th I think.
Question: December 23rd was also suggested as a possible date for the final but FIFA President Joseph Blatter recently rejected the idea.
Neuer: You would have to catch a late flight back home.
Question: And World Cup celebrations on Christmas Eve...
Neuer: The Cup would be placed under the Christmas tree. But honestly, I don't know. Like I already said, we have to wait and see how the leagues react to this idea and how exactly they plan to schedule all the events. I simply don't have enough information at the moment to be able to speak about it.
Question: But you are following the debate?
Neuer: I'm a player who doesn’t read a lot of newspapers. But sooner or later some other players, like Thomas Müller, will inform me of the latest news. He always has this kind of information (smiles). I'm excited to see what they will come up with.
