“He really should have won the Ballon d’Or,” a Bayern legend asserts, explaining how Manuel Neuer even makes Real Madrid stars Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior appear inferior

Lahm hailed Neuer’s “fantastic” display in Bayern’s 2-1 away win in last week’s first leg, a performance underlined by several outstanding saves. The 40-year-old goalkeeper’s showing at the Bernabéu evoked two defining matches in Neuer’s career.

First, the 2020 Champions League final, which Bayern won against Paris Saint-Germain thanks in part to Neuer’s spectacular saves against the then PSG superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. “Secondly, I was taken back to the 2014 World Cup final,” revealed Lahm, recalling Germany’s 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in Rio de Janeiro, a match in which he had played.

Although Neuer did not have to “save a single shot” in that final, it “perfectly illustrated where some of his greatest strengths lie”, emphasised the former captain of the German national team. Why? “Neuer intimidates strikers – he lowers the quality of their finishing,” explained Lahm, who played alongside Neuer at Bayern for six years and retired in 2017 after 517 appearances for the club.

Lahm elaborated: “Against Neuer, an 80% effort with your shot isn’t enough; even 100% is not enough. You have to take 110 per cent risk.” To beat the Bayern keeper, power and precision must be delivered in equal, near-perfect measure. “That’s why some shots quickly sail wide, over, or lack the placement to trouble him,” Lahm concluded.

Neuer’s aura of invincibility often causes even the world’s best attackers to misfire. “In the 2014 final, Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuaín were so precise with their shots that they missed chances they usually convert. And last week in Madrid, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappé failed to hit the target because Neuer’s earlier saves had already impressed them,” Lahm states.

Neuer is “a once-in-a-century goalkeeper” and “Mr Invincible”, the 42-year-old added. “As a striker, you’re facing a grizzly bear. But at the same time, Manuel is a goalkeeper who shuns showboating and frills. He doesn’t waste energy on unnecessary acrobatics or theatrical movements designed purely for spectacle. When a shot was saveable, he dealt with it in the most efficient way.”

Because he is also such a good footballer, “a team finds it much easier to play through him in high-pressure situations,” Lahm emphasised. “We always had that confidence in him and he offered us an option in almost every situation.”

In their second clash with Real Madrid, Bayern will once again need Manuel Neuer in top form to secure their place in the Champions League semi-finals. The veteran’s contract, who has repeatedly dismissed speculation about a possible return to the German national team for the World Cup, expires at the end of the season. Whether he will extend his contract for another year is still uncertain, though current indications point to him carrying on.

“I don’t know what Manuel will decide,” Lahm said, before acknowledging the keeper’s current physical state: “The Neuer of today is probably already lacking ten to 15 per cent of his former physical condition.” In Madrid, he did not produce any “impossible” saves, Lahm noted, but added that Neuer’s true strength lies in his calm, presence and concentration. “Many goalkeepers make mistakes in big games, but that is when Manuel Neuer raises his game and helps teams win titles—even now.”

Neuer is “on a par with the all-time greats of football history, on a level with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Lahm, paying tribute to his former teammate. “And he really should have won the Ballon d’Or at some point. Who wouldn’t have agreed with that?”

In 2014, after helping Germany win the World Cup, he came closest. That year he finished third behind Messi and Ronaldo, his best Ballon d’Or placing to date. Neuer has, however, been named the world’s best goalkeeper five times (2013–2016 and 2020).