The 38-year-old is contesting a tournament for the first time as the not undisputed number one. But he still wants to give a lot to the team.

Manuel Neuer smiled mischievously. “That sounds good, of course,” said Germany’s national goalkeeper on Monday in Herzogenaurach. The clash with Hungary on Wednesday in Stuttgart (18:00/ARD) will be Neuer’s 17th game at a European Championship. This will tie the Munich player with his Italian goalkeeper colleague Gianluigi Buffon – a record. Unless something extraordinary happens, Neuer will soon hold the sole record.

A figure that illustrates how long Neuer has been defending balls at the highest level. He is now 38 years old. As one of the few national team players to wear the retro collection from kit supplier Adidas these days, he can actually remember the original pieces from the 1996 European Championship year.

ter Stegen is breathing down Manuel Neuer’s neck

However, this tournament is also a first for him, because for the first time there are more major than minor doubts as to whether Neuer is really still the best German keeper after his serious leg injury. Neuer wobbled several times in the second half of the Bundesliga season, as well as in the two test matches against Ukraine (1:1) and Greece (2:1) immediately before the tournament. Marc-André ter Stegen from FC Barcelona is breathing down his neck. In the end, the Munich player’s experience and the presence exuded by the Gelsenkirchen native, who revolutionized the goalkeeping game, spoke in his favour.

Neuer does not want to let the goalkeeping debate, which national coach Julian Nagelsmann immediately and decisively confronted, get to him. “The relationship of trust between the coaching team, players and myself is important,” said Neuer, emphasizing: “The trust is very high.” And the highly explosive nature of the issue has been displaced for the time being by the furious opening game against Scotland (5:1). Neuer did concede a goal, although the Scots didn’t even shoot near him, but DFB defender Antonio Rüdiger was unfortunate to head into the net. Neuer was unable to distinguish himself.

Neuer leaves future open

Even without the captain’s armband, which Nagelsmann’s predecessor Hansi Flick handed over to Ilkay Gündogan in Neuer’s absence, Neuer sees himself as “an important part of this team in the game, in coaching, in discussions with the team and at the communication level”. Also at the 2026 World Cup? “I’ll have my thoughts after the tournament.” For now, his focus is on the zero against Hungary