Neuer in focus ahead of Spurs clash
LONDON: Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer heads into Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Tottenham Hotspur aiming for a display that settles the debate about whether he should remain Germany’s first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Barcelona’s Marc-andre ter Stegen.
The showdown in London will be key in deciding who will win Group B with Bayern currently top after beating Red Star Belgrade 3-0 in their opener a fortnight ago and Spurs needing a home victory to get back on track after throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Olympiakos.
Neuer will want to use the high-profile clash to prove his form after a shaky display on Saturday, in which he was twice beaten—including once from long-range effort—at bottom club Paderborn.
Neuer could do little about the first goal but was at fault when Paderborn defender Jamilu Collins scored from 30 metres out to make it 3-2 and give Bayern a nervy final 10 minutes before they eventually won and topped the Bundesliga for the first time this season.
The captain insisted the result and his performance has “little bearing” on the Spurs game, but the shaky manner of the win detracted from the Bavarians taking first place.
“We should have decided the game earlier for ourselves,” Neuer fumed as Bayern squandered chances before Robert Lewandowski scored what proved to be the winner with his 10th goal in six league games.
That display came on the same day Ter Stegen launched Barca to a 2-0 win at Getafe with a sensational long-range pass for Luis Suarez’s opener after snuffing out an attack from the home side.
Ter Stegen had sparked a war of words between Germany’s top goalkeepers when he said it was a “tough blow” to remain on the bench after watching Neuer beaten four times in a heavy home defeat by the Netherlands in this month’s Euro 2020 qualifier. REAL MADRID FACE BRUGGE TEST
MADRID: Real Madrid’s revolution was supposed to be built around their attack but resilience has been the base for the recovery ahead of t heir Champions League group game at home to Club Brugge on Tuesday.
At the end of last season, as Zinedine Zidane’s dreary run-in came to a close and paved the way for what many expected to be a spectacular summer, polls were published by Madrid’s newspapers asking fans which of the world’s deadliest strikers they hoped would arrive at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero, Mauro Icardi and Robert Lewandowski were some of the names offered up and, in the end, Luka Jovic arrived, the Serbian who has struggled for starts so far and is yet to score a goal.
Eden Hazard is tasked too with helping fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo, even if the Belgian’s own opening in Madrid has also been underwhelming, stalled by injury and now seemingly a period of adjustment.
“We would like him to score because it will release him,” said Zidane on Saturday. “But there is no problem with him.”