Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann has insisted he will not entertain any talk of Manuel Neuer being dismissed as the first choice goalkeeper of the team after the Bayern Munich veteran made another error in Friday’s 2-1 friendly win against Greece.
The 38-year-old was the culprit for the opening goal of the contest, letting loose Christos Tzolis’ shot for Georgios Masouras to slot home.
Kai Havertz then restored parity early in the second 45 and Pascal Gross netted the winner in the last minute of the tie to complete the comeback.
Much of the focus after the games was on Neuer, who has the competition of Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen on the bench.
Nagelsmann had already stated Neuer was going to be the starting keeper ahead of Euro 2024 but following his performance, and the previous error in the first preparatory friendly against Ukraine while also factoring his mistake for Bayern in their UEFA Champions League semifinal loss to Real Madrid — the former RB Leipzig boss came to a swift defence of the goalkeeper which he also tutored at club level while in Bavaria.
“I won’t allow any discussions about Manuel Neuer, even if everyone’s going to try.
“When he makes a mistake it’s easy to say that it was his fault. But at the end of the day it was a series of mistakes.
“He pulled off three class saves during the match — saves that others might not be able to make.
“Everything is fine.”
