Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has officially retired from Germany after 15 years in the national team
The goalkeeper Thomas Müller announced his withdrawal of the German national teamafter fifteen years in the national team.
In a statement issued on his social networks, the Bayern goalkeeper made public his decision, which he described as “difficult”, and has made a balance of his time at the teamof which he became captain.
“It’s been more than fifteen years since my debut in the United Arab Emirates. I was nervous that day. I’m proud to have been with my teammates for so many years and to have been captain for seven years until my injury. I’m glad that my farewell was at the European Championship in my country,” said the goalkeeper.
Neuer hailed the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as “the highlight” of his career with the ‘Nationalelf’ and thanked “all the professionals in the Federation, the goalkeeping coaches, his teammates and the fans” for the years they shared.
A 124-cap Germany international, the fifth-most in the team’s history, the goalkeeper made his debut in goal for Germany on 2 June 2009 in a friendly in the United Arab Emirates, when he was still playing for Schalke 04.
He immediately gained the trust of coach Joachim Löw, who made him a starter for the World Cup in South Africa the following year, and he remained an undisputed player from then on.
His “highlight”, as he calls it, came with winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he was one of Germany’s most decisive players – he finished third in that year’s Ballon d’Or.
In 2016, after the European Championship in France, he inherited the captaincy of Germany after Bastian Schweinsteiger resigned, a position he would hold until 2023, when Julian Nagelsmann, citing the injury that kept him out of the team for a few months, stripped him of the armband in favour of Ilkay Gündogan.
With Germany he has completed a total of four World Cups and four European Championships, the last of which was held in his country, where the host team lost to Spain in the quarter-finals.
With Neuer’s departure, there are now four German players who have left the national team since the championship last July; all of them veterans of the team such as Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos – who also gave up football – and Gündogan himself.
With information from EFE
