Neuer expressly committed to the red card

A red card against Manuel Neuer initiated Bayern’s defeat against Leverkusen. After the game the goalkeeper took up the position.

It was probably the decisive scene of the game: In the 17th minute of the DFB Cup round of 16 between FC Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer stormed out of his goal to intercept a long pass from Leverkusen. But Neuer came too late, didn’t reach the ball and instead rammed Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong to the ground with his shoulder.

Referee Harms Osmers didn’t hesitate for long. The decision: emergency brake. Red card for Neuer. From then on, Bayern played outnumbered and ended up losing 1-0.

After the game, Neuer commented on his mistake on the Sky microphone: “It was of course not so easy to continue the game after the sending off,” he said initially about the game. “We did well as a team. We invested everything, tried everything. There’s no way you can blame us,” Neuer continued, before getting to the point: “But of course the expulsion hurts.” “

About the scene itself he said: “It’s not a really active situation where I’m trying to hurt him.” But the problem was that he didn’t play the ball either. Frimpong then ran into him and gratefully accepted the contact. “Because I don’t hit the ball, it’s okay for me in the end,” he finally admitted.

Immediately after the red card, Neuer stayed on the pitch for a while and didn’t go straight into the dressing room. He explained this by saying that he was still waiting for a VAR intervention. “In the end I also hoped that there might be an offside situation, if I’m honest,” said the goalkeeper. “In the end you are powerless and have to accept what is then decided.”

Finally, he tried to motivate his teammates “so that we can still make this possible,” he added in the ARD interview.

Bayern sports director Max Eberl also commented and expressed at least slight doubts about referee Harm Osmers’ decision. “Mr. Osmers said it was an emergency brake for him. For him it was the case that the Leverkusen player could pass the ball and then run into the empty goal,” he said. “We have to accept that,” Eberl added with a slightly critical undertone.

Neuer hesitated a bit in the situation and therefore came too late, he analyses. “Then he tried to go with his head, then there is contact, you could also say: the crash,” said Eberl, before raising doubts as to whether it was really an emergency brake. “Two of our players are still around it, but okay, the referee decided it that way.” Finally, Eberl Neuer confirmed that he was “a very, very smart goalkeeper” who could normally predict these balls. “It didn’t work at that moment,” said Eberl.