For the second time this Bundesliga season, FC Bayern settled for a draw. Saturday’s match against FC Augsburg ended in a 2-2 tie. Manuel Neuer found himself in the spotlight against his will.
That’s because the Bayern Munich goalkeeper made a major mistake right in the first play of the game. Neuer mishandled a back pass, then chipped it straight to Robin Fellhauer, who ran straight toward the goal unmarked and scored the fastest goal in Bundesliga history after just eight seconds.
On the second goal conceded, Neuer— whose individual performance was clearly subpar—didn’t look very confident either. However, it wasn’t as clear-cut a mistake as on the first goal.
Mistakes in Augsburg: Eberl Criticizes Neuer
Following the match, Bayern’s sporting director Max Eberl criticized the goalkeeper for his play right at the start, which may have also lacked the necessary concentration.
“The first goal was clearly his mistake. He needs to handle that differently—it’s on him. As for the second goal, a few more players were involved, but Manu was too,” Eberl explained to Sky after the match .
Eberl immediately followed that up with praise for the truly strong opponent: “Great respect for FC Augsburg, no question. They did a good job.”
The discussions surrounding Neuer and the goalkeeper situation at FC Bayern are certainly not going to die down now. At the start of the season, the longtime national team goalkeeper actually seemed largely solid, but these two mistakes will surely give his critics something to talk about again.
It’s quite possible, in any case, that Jonas Urbig will start in the Champions League match against Viking Stavanger this week. He’s recently impressed, among other things, with two clean sheets for the German national team.