By Zach Lowy
Zidane is not alone: from Roger Milla to Claude Makelélé, from Kevin-Prince Boateng to Lionel Messi, we have seen many players return to the squad and play a determining role in the success of their national team, the latest being Toni Kroos. Three years after retiring, Kroos turned around and helped Germany reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, where they lost to eventual champions Spain. Fast forward to today, and there is another world champion restarting his adventure in Germany ahead of the 2026 World Cup: Manuel Neuer.
Since his emergence at Schalke, Neuer has stood out from all other players in his position with his ‘sweeper goalkeeper’ style, using his speed and tenacity to anticipate opposition attacks before they manifest and timing his interventions to perfection. It was a high-risk, high-reward style of goalkeeping that could only be administered by someone with Neuer’s technical prowess, physical strength and mental acuity.
In a professional career now entering its third decade, Neuer has excelled at the highest level and set the standard for goalkeepers both in possession and keeping the ball out of the net, helping Germany win their first World Cup as a unified country in 2014 and cementing an unprecedented national dynasty with Bayern. But those attributes have diminished due to a litany of recent injuries, the first being a metatarsal fracture which saw him miss most of the 2017/18 season. For the first time, Neuer is no longer a sure bet between the posts: it’s a coin toss.
“Neuer has been very inconsistent,” said Bundesliga expert Andrés Weiss. “He had moments where he looked like one of the best in the world, like the first leg at the Bernabéu or the second leg against PSG, but he also suffered from a recurring calf injury, which caused him to miss several weeks of competition and even be substituted three times. I think on a good day he absolutely has his place among the elite, but right now it’s a real battle. With Neuer as a starter, I feel like what he will give you gives, “If I were to imagine a German team winning the title, Neuer wouldn’t look out of place in that image. But for this, it would have to eliminate the increasingly frequent errors and find greater regularity. “
After Germany’s humiliating group stage elimination at the 2022 World Cup, Neuer went skiing to clear his mind, but found no peace: instead, he crashed on the slopes and fractured his tibia and fibula, sidelining him for more than 300 days. Since his return in October 2023, Neuer has missed 34 matches due to club and country injuries, mainly muscular. But even though Neuer’s body breaks down more frequently, he is nevertheless proving more reliable than the man once expected to succeed him – Marc-André Ter Stegen – who has played 12 times in the last two seasons.
With Ter Stegen struggling to stay fit, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann experimented with Alexander Nübel, Kevin Trapp, Finn Dahmen, Stefan Ortega, Janis Blaswich and Bernd Leno, before finally settling on Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann. And yet, just when Baumann appeared to be a starter, Nagelsmann decided to bring Neuer back into the fold for his ninth consecutive major tournament as Germany’s No. 1.
Even at 40 years old, Neuer is still capable of putting on world-class performances against opponents of the highest caliber, but it’s unclear whether he can put on those performances consistently and stay healthy and mistake-free. The Neuer of 2026 has yo-yoed between breathtaking saves and catastrophic errors, as evidenced by Bayern’s Champions League run. He was Man of the Match at the Santiago Bernabéu with nine saves, but he failed to provide cover in the second leg as Bayern won 4-3 against Real Madrid (6-4 on aggregate). And although he prevailed in the semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, it was too little, too late, after an unconvincing performance in a 5-4 defeat in France the previous week.
“For most of the season, Manuel Neuer was in good physical condition, but in the second half of the campaign he had a persistent calf problem, had a setback, recovered, then had another setback,” said Bayern reporter The Barrel Blog. “At times he was absolutely brilliant and was stealing games for Bayern Munich. It wasn’t so much the calf injury that affected Neuer in the games he struggled, but his decision-making. Sometimes Neuer still thinks he’s still 27 and trying to make aggressive, sweep guard type plays that he just can’t make anymore.”
“Neuer can’t do everything he did 5-10 years ago, but he’s still extremely talented, still has crazy motivation to play (which can work against him at times), and can still deliver incredible performances. Neuer is still smart and he can still cut down angles, but sometimes he just needs a better understanding of what his body can and can’t do. In some games, Neuer is still nothing short of spectacular. In others, he makes all the plays necessary for the team wins. On those rare occasions when he is out, however, he struggles mightily. When healthy and fresh, Neuer was great, but his struggles often seemed to come after a very busy period.
After making the 925th appearance of his professional career against Cologne, Neuer missed the DFB-Pokal final and Germany’s first pre-tournament friendly due to a calf injury. He extended his contract for another year at Bayern, and even though he is expected to lose a lot of minutes to his successor Jonas Urbig, it is undeniable that as long as he decides to continue playing, he will remain a starter.
But as he prepares for the final World Cup of his illustrious career, two questions remain unanswered:
1) Can Neuer’s body hold up during a six-week tournament?
2) Which Neuer will show up: the one from the Bernabéu or the one from the Parc des Princes?
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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