Germany are in safe hands, insists Muller
THOMAS MULLER has hailed Manuel Neuer as the best keeper in the world — and insists Germany will always win penalty shoot-outs with his Bayern Munich team-mate in goal.
Neuer was the hero as Joachim Low’s side beat Italy 6-5 on penalties in their quarter-final in Bordeaux on Saturday night, saving spot-kicks from Leonardo Bonucci and Matteo Darmian before Jonas Hector hit the winner past Gianluigi Buffon.
But it was an amazingly close thing for the Germans, whose usual iron will on these occasions appeared to crack.
Surprisingly, they missed as many penalties in the shoot-out — three in all — as they had done in the previous 34 years. And Muller, who became the first German to miss a penalty in one since 1982, has vowed to practise ahead of a similar outcome in Thursday’s semi-final in Marseille.
Even so, the world champions are now just two victories away from capturing their fourth European Championship title. And, with Neuer in goal, Muller warned that Germany will always fancy their chances.
‘As a player, you never want a penalty shoot-out because it is a lottery to some extent,’ said the 26-year-old forward. ‘You would rather win in 90 minutes. But with Manuel in goal, we always have the advantage.
‘He shows his quality in every game. He makes more saves (in penalties) than any other goalkeeper in the world, that’s a fact.’
Neuer had kept four successive clean sheets before Bonucci equalised for Italy from the penalty spot in the 77th minute after Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil had put Germany ahead 12 minutes earlier. The game finished 1-1 after extratime and it was on to penalties.
The Germans are perceived as the kings of this discipline, but they were strangely off kilter. Fortunately for them, the Azzurri were just as jittery in a shoot-out which took 18 penalties to decide.
It was a victory which must have come as a sweet relief to Muller, who missed two good chances to score in normal time as his barren spell continued.
The man who was the World Cup’s top scorer in Brazil two years ago has yet to hit the net in France and has promised to work on his technique.
But he says he will still be happy to step up again if required.
‘I’ll revisit my penalty technique and come back stronger in a month or two,’ he said. ‘For now, I’ll leave it to others to take them. But if it comes to penalties again and someone is needed, I’m there.’
Muller claimed he is not bothered about his own goal drought as long as Germany keep winning.
‘It doesn’t matter if I score or not. I’ll keep trying, and if it happens, it happens. If we go on to win the final without a goal of mine, I’ll be happy with that.’
Germany have grown stronger as the tournament has progressed, although Low will be forced into making changes for Thursday’s semi-final with hosts France.
Mario Gomez has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament after picking up a hamstring injury in the victory over Italy. Sami Khedira is also set to miss out with a groin injury he suffered in the same game.
‘We are playing like real men and deserved to beat Italy,’ said Low.
‘We have been confident from the start that we can challenge for the title. We have a very talented group and we have now found the right structure. We play with passion but also with a cool head.’