Bayern Munich claimed a 2-1 Bundesliga victory over Mainz on Saturday, but goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s latest mistake and recurring foot injury raised fresh concerns about his reliability between the posts. The 40-year-old became Bayern’s oldest ever player, at 40 years and 225 days, breaking the record held by former goalkeeper Bernd Dreher.
But Neuer’s landmark debut was marred by another awkward moment. Bayern went ahead 1-0, and the old goat goalkeeper was taken out of the game when he blocked too low for Lee Jae-Sung’s Mainz forward to clear a cross. Bayern did not concede an equaliser as the shot was then deemed offside.
Unfortunately, Neuer’s afternoon was put on hold before half-time when he was sent off with another foot injury that had troubled him recently. Twenty-three-year-old Jonas Urbig replaced him in goal.
The recent incident has only added to Neuer’s woes over recent form, especially after the clip against Augsburg which he costed the side last month. That time, Robin Fellhauer netted the quickest goal in Bundesliga history after eight seconds. Sofascore data based on Opta statistics shows that Neuer has five errors that have directly led to goals in his 17 appearances so far for the Bundesliga. That’s one such error for every 3.4 games.
It’s very different from what he did earlier. Neuer had made 248 appearances in his previous 248 Bundesliga games and made just 10 mistakes in his 10 goals, averaging out to one per 24.8 appearances. But the accomplished keeper had only appeared in two of his last four games, having missed the game against Augsburg with the foot ailment.
