00:05Manuel Neuer is a different breed of goalkeeper and while his unique and
00:11aggressive playing style could be interpreted as dangerous or risky, it has
00:15led him to big things on football's greatest stage. While he didn't invent
00:21the role of sweeper keeper, Neuer certainly took it to a new level.
00:27Lightning quick for such an imposing physical figure, almost daring opposition
00:32strikers to take him on as he takes risks to launch attack from defence. The
00:37German international has made goalkeeping fashionable and in 2014 he made it the
00:44key to Germany's World Cup success. For 20 years Neuer was entrenched at his home
00:52club Schalke, where he started at age five. He debuted in the Bundesliga in 2006 but
01:00was snatched by Bayern Munich in 2011, the team for which he really blossomed.
01:08His Schalke fan base were not pleased when he announced he would be leaving and
01:13surprisingly nor were the fans of Bayern when word reached them that a rival
01:17player was entering their midst. But they were silenced quickly by the match-winning
01:22theatrics of their new stopper. He won a string of Bundesliga titles, two of them as
01:28part of a treble, along with the DFB, Pacal and Champions League in 2013 and 2020. Neuer
01:36named the world's best goalkeeper five times in that span. But as good as Neuer has been for Bayern
01:44Munich over the journey, it all seemed to lead to football's greatest stage in 2014.
01:51Germany qualified with ease for the World Cup in Brazil and earned two wins from the group stage to
01:57progress to what would be a hard-fought knockout phase. But that's when Neuer's aggressive mid-air
02:05acrobatics came to the fore, holding off Algeria in a tense 2-1 extra-time victory in the round of
02:1116.
02:13The Germans got through against France 1-0 in the quarter-finals before an unprecedented 7-1
02:19rout of host nation Brazil. Neuer's heroics continued in the decider against Argentina,
02:27making breakaway forays, forcing countless errors from the opposition,
02:33leaving the Argentinians remarkably without a shot on target,
02:37before Mario Goetze scored the winner in extra time.
02:42While Goetze got the glory for the match-winner, Neuer was hailed a colossus.
02:48He won the Golden Glove for the tournament's best goalkeeper, but finished only third in the ensuing
02:54Ballon d'Or, behind strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The 2014 Ballon d'Or sparked widespread
03:03condemnation of the voting system. German legend Franz Beckenbauer just one of many to label Neuer's lack
03:10of recognition unjust. But while Manuel Neuer didn't win football's greatest individual prize,
03:17his feats on football's greatest stage in 2014, will be cherished forever.
03:22He went to it to for more days and later, but I was
03:22aBA business owner's grown. He made a great game for the hero hunt. There will be a ê±´ of me,
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