Ter Stegen to stay on Germany bench despite Neuer howler

The coach has given Bayern’s No. 1 his full backing

Marc-Andre ter Stegen is set to stay on the bench for Germany despite current No. 1 Manuel Neuer dropping another clanger on Friday.

Neuer was guilty of a poor mistake that gifted Giorgos Masouras the opening goal in a 2-1 win for Germany ahead of Euro 2024.

Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images

However, Julian Nagelsmann was quick to defend his stopper after the final whistle.

“I won’t let any discussion arise, even if everyone tries to start one, Manuel Neuer is and will be our starting goalkeeper,” he told reporters. “He made three good saves, everything is fine.

“It’s always the goalkeeper’s fault: If you don’t solve a situation perfectly, it’s always a goal against you,” continued Nagelsmann.

“It’s always easy to say that it’s ‘Manu’. There were three situations beforehand where we shouldn’t have played the way we did. If we hadn’t, there wouldn’t even have been a shot on target.”

Neuer did manage to redeem himself somewhat later with some good saves but Nagelsmann’s comments suggest Ter Stegen will spend the tournament on the bench.

The Barcelona stopper has already complained about playing back-up, saying it’s “not a pleasant situation” and one he finds “very disappointing.”

Source: barcablaugranes.com