After big wins in the Bundesliga and Champions League, Bayern Munich were also victorious in the DFB Pokal with a comfortable 3-0 win over Schalke. Manuel Neuer didn’t have much to do in goal for the record Bundesliga and Cup winners. The 30-year-old spoke to us about Bayern’s strong form and the key players in the side.
Question: Mr Neuer, do you agree that, at the moment, Bayern are unstoppable?
Manuel Neuer: In this recent knock-out match, everyone was focussed right from the start. We were right at it, more so than in the league game with Schalke (which finished 1-1). We know what it’s about at the moment. We’re taking this important part of the season seriously and are excited about every match.
Question: That seems to be the case for Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker is on a roll.
What’s so special about him?
Neuer: We all saw his first goal. It was, first off all, a genius bit of play by Franck Ribéry and Robert Lewandowski has already scored against Ralf Fährmann from a similar position in the Bundesliga with his weaker foot. But he did really well both on both occasions and chipped the ball into the corner. Everything is easy for him at the moment. If you have his motivation and enthusiasm for every game, then it’s easier to understand how he performs the way he does.
Question: Is the recently returning Ribéry also hard to replace?
Neuer: He did really wel. Not just with the first goal, but also in his buil-up play for the third goal. Franck did a similar thing to Thomas Müller in the last game against HSV, who also showed class in the build-up. You can only praise the performances of these players. Lots of them are playing well.
Question: What was the difference between the league and cup games against Schalke?
After big wins in the Bundesliga and Champions League, Bayern Munich were also victorious in the DFB Pokal with a comfortable 3-0 win over Schalke. Manuel Neuer didn’t have much to do in goal for the record Bundesliga and Cup winners. The 30-year-old spoke to us about Bayern’s strong form and the key players in the side.
Question: Mr Neuer, do you agree that, at the moment, Bayern are unstoppable?
Manuel Neuer: In this recent knock-out match, everyone was focussed right from the start. We were right at it, more so than in the league game with Schalke (which finished 1-1). We know what it’s about at the moment. We’re taking this important part of the season seriously and are excited about every match.
Question: That seems to be the case for Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker is on a roll.
What’s so special about him?
Neuer: We all saw his first goal. It was, first off all, a genius bit of play by Franck Ribéry and Robert Lewandowski has already scored against Ralf Fährmann from a similar position in the Bundesliga with his weaker foot. But he did really well both on both occasions and chipped the ball into the corner. Everything is easy for him at the moment. If you have his motivation and enthusiasm for every game, then it’s easier to understand how he performs the way he does.
Question: Is the recently returning Ribéry also hard to replace?
Neuer: He did really wel. Not just with the first goal, but also in his buil-up play for the third goal. Franck did a similar thing to Thomas Müller in the last game against HSV, who also showed class in the build-up. You can only praise the performances of these players. Lots of them are playing well.
Question: What was the difference between the league and cup games against Schalke?
Neuer: It’s always easier when you take the lead inside three minutes. That’s the first thing. But we also have a lot of enthusiasm for the difficult games now. Even the players who are new to the team have given everything from the first minute. Everybody wants to play.
Question: Is the team firing at 100% now?
Neuer: It’s the minimum requirement that everybody at least tries to give 100%. The first-half wasn’t too bad. Then when you get on a run, you want to keep it going for as long as possible. We’re noticing in the difficult games that we’re playing a little bit better and more at it now.
Question: How difficult is it to balance league, cup and Champions League games?
Neuer: That’s relatively normal. We know that and we like it because we want to be in all competitions for as long as possible. We have to take Cologne seriously. We only got a draw against them in the first half of the season and want to win there this weekend.
Question: What’s the difference between this year and last, when the form of Bayern deteriorated in the new year?
Neuer: We’ve still got a long way to go before we can say it’s been a better second half to the season. Therefore, we have to be careful what we say at this stage. However, at the moment it’s going well, but the really important weeks of the season are still to come.
