Joint interview with Sepp Maier and Manuel Neuer

Legends together: To mark FCB goalkeeping icon Sepp Maier's 80th birthday this Wednesday, he sat down with Manuel Neuer to talk about life between the posts yesterday, today and tomorrow. You can read the full interview (in German) in the FC Bayern members' magazine "51".

The Interview with Sepp Maier and Manuel Neuer

Sepp, when you see the pitches and today's training facilities here at Säbener Straße - does it make you envious?
Sepp Maier: "I used to have to clear my goal area myself with a snow shovel, that was quite normal. In winter, the frozen ground was rock-hard in places. Because FC Bayern still had an ice hockey team back then, I got myself some ice hockey goalkeeper equipment from them, which I wore in training."

Manuel Neuer: "But you didn't wear a helmet, did you?"

Maier: "No, and I didn't have a stick in my hand either (laughs). It was more about the knee and elbow pads. And a nice side effect was that the stuff was really heavy. When I was throwing myself around in training during the week and then of course didn't wear it during the game, I felt as light as a feather."

Manu, how familiar are you with Sepp Maier's goalkeeping game?
Neuer: "I'm too young to have seen all of his games. But of course I know lots of his classic moments from clips. And his methods as a goalkeeping coach are second nature to me anyway: As a child, I had a book by Sepp in which he presented various forms of training. We took this book with us on every camping holiday and my father was always there doing the exercises with me. It was written especially for children and he explained the first goalkeeping steps in there, how to dive properly and so on. I had loads of fun with that."

Maier: "As a goalkeeping coach, it was always important to me that the training was as varied as possible, because I didn't have it myself during my playing career. Back then, the head coach told me to be there half an hour before the regular training session, or we would add another half an hour onto the end of the team session. I'd then go through the normal programme, 100-metre sprints, fitness training and such like - and afterwards they would completely ruin me."

Neuer: "That sounds anything but modern..."

Maier: "You're not wrong. For a quarter of an hour it was just diving to the right, then just to the left, bang, bang, up and down, 20 times one after the other. It didn't do any good. When I then worked as a goalkeeping coach with Jean-Marie Pfaff at Bayern in 1984 and for the national team from 1988, it was important to me that it wasn't boring and tedious, but that it was fun. It's much better to do an exercise five or six times in a focused way than 30 times in a row - you don't get the same shot on goal 30 times in a game either. Towards the end of my coaching career, I had 146 different exercises in my programme - and Oliver Kahn didn't even realise how long we'd been training. After 90 minutes, he would ask in amazement why we'd stopped. I was also never a fan of the weights room. It's good in pre-season or during an injury. But during the season, you need litheness and jumping power, and the best way to get that is on the pitch."

Manu, how highly should we rate Sepp's pioneering work?
Neuer: "It's a lifetime achievement, no question about it. When I talk to people from other generations, whether it's Oliver Kahn or my goalkeeping coaches, Sepp is the ultimate role model for everyone. He made it possible for goalkeeper training to be structured and specific, something that simply didn't exist beforehand."

Sepp, conversely, Manuel is said to have revolutionised the modern goalkeeping game. What's your view on that?
Maier: "Manuel was the first goalkeeper for whom it was completely normal to move up the pitch and get involved. He's always in the thick of the action, he does that perfectly. And I'm certain that if FC Bayern were to deploy him as a centre-forward with his technical skills, he could also do that. You can pass to his left or right foot, it makes no difference - I only had my left foot for fetching beers, as they say. Goalkeepers today have to be just as two-footed as the outfield players, otherwise they don't stand a chance at the highest level. We didn't actually need that in the past because we were always allowed to pick up the ball, even after a back pass. Personally, I think it's fantastic that this rule was abolished, it fundamentally changed the goalkeeping game and goalkeepers were suddenly required to play in a completely different way. They're now much more integrated with the outfield players than they were in my day."

How important are confidence and courage in goalkeeping?
Neuer: "Charisma can be crucial for a goalkeeper. I'm the last man, my team's life insurance policy, so I have to show the opposition: Stop, you can't get past me! As a goalkeeper, you have to have this self-perception, otherwise you have no business playing in the position."

Maier: "You have to gain respect from your opponent. If they know there's no point in even trying from 20 metres against you, they'll then start to overthink every attack. Charisma is the be-all and end-all - and there's no place for fear in a goalkeeper. When I used to be asked which striker I was afraid of, my answer was: none at all, because the only one I would be afraid of plays in my team: Gerd Müller."

As the goalkeeper, however, you can quickly be made the scapegoat when the ball's gone in.
Neuer: "I always see things a little differently, because it's not Maier or Neuer playing against the other team, but our whole side. Everyone has to get stuck in and put up a fight."

Maier: "I used to say that every goal I conceded was unstoppable. It was like a reflex, a protective attitude. Someone must have missed a pass or lost the ball. No-one was allowed to talk to me for two or three days afterwards - I could get really furious."

Neuer: "It's only human to build up a sense of protection, I sometimes feel that way myself. But I've learnt for myself that I can clear my head more quickly if I talk about it openly and admit a mistake to myself. Then I can move on. During a match, however, I've got into the habit of completely blocking out a mistake that has led to conceding a goal and telling myself that it's still 0-0. I block it out until the final whistle and don't allow any self-doubt to creep in."

Maier: "That's a good attitude. There's no room for self-doubt in a goalkeeper. Because when there's something at stake in the really important games, a goalkeeper's form on the day still decides 60 to 80 per cent of the outcome. If you have a good day as goalkeeper in a final, that's half the battle for your team. That was the case for me in the 1974 World Cup final, but even more so in the semi-final against Poland. Or for Manuel, the 2020 Champions League final against PSG. If you want to win the Champions League, you need a strong goalkeeper who is confident in himself. Full stop."

Sepp, you made an incredible 442 consecutive Bundesliga appearances. Doesn't it get boring at some point when you walk onto the pitch in the same stadium for the umpteenth time?
Maier: "I was never really conscious of this run - it was only when a reporter once said to me that he would like to do an interview and take photos in the Olympiastadion for my 400th consecutive game that I realised it. But I also remember that later, after my serious car accident in 1979, I immediately said to the paramedic in the car that I absolutely had to be fit again at the weekend so I could extend my run."

That's the equivalent of 13 years straight. Manu, how does that sound?
Neuer: "In this day and age, it's unimaginable how Sepp managed that. I arrived in Munich in 2011, so it's basically exactly the same length of time. Did you never pull a muscle or catch a cold, or not just need a breather?"

Maier: "Never. I only got injured once, when Uwe Seeler hit me in the ribs with his knee going up for a cross in Hamburg in 1965. And because we didn't have substitutes back then, Gerd Müller went in goal for me. I was lying behind him being treated and I was directing him: 'Go there, go there!' Hamburg sensed their chance, Charly Dörfel was whipping in one cross after another. But Gerd, as a centre-forward, knew where the crosses were meant to go and intercepted them with his fists. Our doctor then quickly gave me a couple of injections, I gritted my teeth - and came back on."

Sepp's nickname was 'the cat from Anzing'. Manu, why don't you actually have a nickname like that - and what would be appropriate? Perhaps the 'Tatze' (paw) from the Tegernsee'?
Neuer: "Sounds good, I'd go for that.“

Maier: "Or the 'shark from the Tegernsee', the way he snaps [when winning the ball]. But that was a different time for us. 'Kaiser', 'Bomber of the Nation', 'Adler (Eagle) from Giesing', 'Bulle' (Bull) - we all had some sort of name."

What do you want people to say about you?
Maier: "They'll always remember us fondly. Me in any case (laughs). And Manu too, he's been here for so long now, he's almost a true Bavarian."

Neuer: "I think we're both good examples of the fact that FC Bayern have never had a goalkeeping problem and that good goalkeepers have played here across all eras. There are lots of legends at FC Bayern - and hopefully there will always be new ones in the future, because that would mean that the club is still successful."

And you're hereby officially conferring Bavarian citizenship on Manu, Sepp?
Maier: "Looks like it. He's deserved it for a long time. He's a real paw from the Tegernsee."

© Photos: Julian Baumann

You can read the full interview (in German) in the latest issue of the FC Bayern club magazine "51".