 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Neuer | ||
| Height | 1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | [Lorraine's bed] | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Schalke 04 | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1991–2004 | Schalke 04 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2008 | Schalke 04 II | 2 | (0) |
| 2005– | Schalke 04 | 122 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2006–2009 | Germany U-21 | 20 | (0) |
| 2009– | Germany | 11 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:38, 23 June 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 06:05, 8 July 2010 (UTC) | |||
Manuel Neuer (German pronunciation: [ˈmaːnu̯ɛl ˈnɔʏ.ɐ]; born 27 March 1986 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German footballer and the current goalkeeper of Schalke 04. Neuer's hero and idol as a child was fellow German and former Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.[1]
Club career
Schalke 04
Neuer signed professional terms in 2005 after progressing through every age group at his hometown club. He made his Bundesliga debut when he came on to substitute the injured Frank Rost on match day 2 of the 2006–07 season. The 20-year-old eventually won the starting position when Rost was surprisingly dropped for the crunch clash against Bayern Munich. He did not disappoint and managed to secure a 2–2 draw against the defending champions. Despite his young age, he was widely tipped to be a potential successor to his former idol Jens Lehmann in the future for the Germany national team.[2]
On 5 March 2008, in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, Neuer performed fantastically against FC Porto where he almost single-handedly kept Schalke in the game with some brilliant saves and forced the game into penalties. He later saved penalties from Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez to help Schalke advance to the quarter finals. For his heroics, he was shortlisted for the 2007–08 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award and was the youngest and the only Bundesliga goalkeeper on the list.[3] He was one of only three Bundesliga players to play every single minute in the 2007–08 season.
The 2008–09 was somewhat disappointing as Schalke finished eighth in the league table and missed out on a Europe League spot. However, his good showing at the 2009 U-21 European Championships sparked interest from Bayern Munich, with Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declaring interest in signing the young goalkeeper. Schalke's new manager Felix Magath, however, insisted that Neuer "will play for Schalke next season".[4] In November, he was the only German goalkeeper in the list of five nominated goalkeepers for the UEFA Team of the Year.[5]
International career
After progressing through the youth teams, Neuer made his U-21 debut on 15 August 2006 against the Netherlands. He won the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship with the Germany national under-21 football team in Sweden and kept a clean sheet in the final against England.[6]
Neuer was called-up on 19 May 2009 to the senior Germany squad for a tour of Asia.[7] He made his debut on this tour in a match against United Arab Emirates on 2 June.[8] He played in the November friendly against the Ivory Coast that ended 2–2. Although he took responsibility for the first goal conceded, manager Joachim Löw refused to blame him and instead commended him for doing his best.[9]
The shocking death of keeper Robert Enke in November 2009 saw him elevated as the second choice goalkeeper under René Adler. However, Adler suffered a serious rib injury which ruled out of the World Cup. Neuer was then called to become Germany's first choice goalkeeper ahead of Tim Wiese and Hans-Jörg Butt for the upcoming tournament.[10]
Neuer was selected as Germany's number one goalkeeper for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[11] During the group stages, he only conceded one goal against Serbia. He provided the assist for Klose's first goal against England, winning 4–1. He played in all of Germany's world cup matches apart from the third-place play-off against Uruguay, when reserve goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt was given a game.[12]
Honours
- Schalke 04:
- German League Cup 2005
- FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place - Bronze medal
Personal Honours
- Best Bundesliga Goalkeeper: 2007
- Best UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Goalkeeper: 2009
Career statistics
Club performance
As of 22 February 2009[update]
Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005–06||rowspan="5"|Schalke 04||rowspan="5"|Bundesliga||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2006–07||27||0||0||0||0||0||27||0 |- |2007–08||34||0||3||0||10||0||47||0 |- |2008–09||27||0||2||0||5||0||34||0 |- |2009–10||33||0||5||0||-||-||38||0 Template:Football player statistics 5121||0||10||0||15||0||146||0 |}
Personal life
His brother Marcel is currently a football referee in the Verbandsliga.[13]
References
- ^ "Neuer – so gut wie sein Idol Lehmann" (in German). RP-Online.de. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
- ^ "Neuer good news for Germany". fifa.com. 14 February 2007.
- ^ "UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year". uefa.com. 22 August 2008.
- ^ "Rummenigge talks Neuer interest". fifa.com. 4 June 2009.
- ^ "Neuer nominated for UEFA Team of the Year". Schalke04.com. 7 December 2009.
- ^ "Rückkehrer Neuer bekennt sich zu Schalke" (in German). transfermarkt.de. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2009e.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Löw nominiert Neuer, Träsch, Gentner und Cacau". DFB.de. 19 May 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
- ^ "Gomez ist wieder da – Neuer überzeugt voll und ganz". Kicker.de. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
- ^ "Neuers schwerer Patzer bleibt ohne Folgen" (in German). Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. 30 November 2009.
- ^ "Lahm to Skipper Germany at World Cup; Neuer is Keeper". Sify News. 28 May 2010.
- ^ "Manuel Neuer". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ "Germany beat Uruguay to win bronze". Ghana Sports - Soccer News. GhanaWeb. 10 July 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
- ^ "Der eine ist Schiedsrichter, der andere kickt bei Heßler 06" (in German). reviersport.de. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
