00:04Manuel Neuer is a different breed of goalkeeper and while his unique and
00:09aggressive playing style could be interpreted as dangerous or risky, it has
00:14led him to big things on football's greatest stage. While he didn't invent
00:20the role of sweeper-keeper, Neuer certainly took it to a new level.
00:26Lightning quick for such an imposing physical figure, almost daring opposition
00:30strikers to take him on as he takes risks to launch attack from defence. The
00:36German international has made goalkeeping fashionable and in 2014 he made it the
00:43key to Germany's World Cup success. For 20 years Neuer was entrenched at his home
00:51club Schalke, where he started at age five. He debuted in the Bundesliga in 2006 but
00:59was snatched by Bayern Munich in 2011, the team for which he really blossomed.
01:06His Schalke fan base were not pleased when he announced he would be leaving and
01:11surprisingly nor were the fans of Bayern when word reached them that a rival
01:16player was entering their midst. But they were silenced quickly by the match-winning
01:21theatrics of their new stopper. He won a string of Bundesliga titles, two of them as
01:27part of a treble, along with the DFB, Pacal and Champions League in 2013 and 2020. Neuer
01:35named the world's best goalkeeper five times in that span. But as good as Neuer has been for Bayern
01:43Munich over the journey, it all seemed to lead to football's greatest stage in 2014.
01:50Germany qualified with ease for the World Cup in Brazil and earned two wins from the group stage to
01:56progress to what would be a hard-fought knockout phase. But that's when Neuer's aggressive mid-air
02:04acrobatics came to the fore, holding off Algeria in a tense 2-1 extra-time victory in the round of
02:1016.
02:11The Germans got through against France 1-0 in the quarter-finals,
02:16before an unprecedented 7-1 rout of host nation Brazil.
02:21Neuer's heroics continued in the decider against Argentina, making breakaway forays,
02:28forcing countless errors from the opposition, leaving the Argentinians remarkably without a
02:34shot on target, before Mario Goetze scored the winner in extra time.
02:41While Goetze got the glory for the match-winner, Neuer was hailed a colossus.
02:47He won the Golden Glove for the tournament's best goalkeeper,
02:50but finished only third in the ensuing Ballon d'Or, behind strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
02:58The 2014 Ballon d'Or sparked widespread condemnation of the voting system.
03:04German legend Franz Beckenbauer just won of many to label Neuer's lack of recognition unjust.
03:11But while Manuel Neuer didn't win football's greatest individual prize,
03:16his feats on football's greatest stage in 2014 will be cherished forever.
03:21We'll see you later.
03:22We'll see you later.
03:22The 2014 Ballon d'Or
03:22We're
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