Diego Benaglio resigns: “I was able to realize my dreams”
The former goalkeeper of the Swiss national team announced the end of his long and successful career on Tuesday. In the interview, the keeper talks about his triumphs and his future.
18.08.2020
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With Diego Benaglio, one of the most successful Swiss goalkeepers ends his career. We look back on defining moments of long-standing Nati support. Tonight, the 36-year-old is visiting Teleclub for the semi-final game between PSG and Leipzig.
Teleclub will vote you from 8:00 p.m. on the Champions League semi-final between RB Leipzig and PSG. The resigned Diego Benaglio, who was most recently under contract with AS Monaco, is also a guest.
Diego Benaglio has been named Swiss Footballer of the Year twice. The first time in 2009, after he sensationally hexed Wolfsburg to the championship title in his first full season as VfL goalie. In 2013 he received the award for the second time. With Wolfsburg, Benaglio, where he stood between the posts until summer 2017, celebrated two more titles. In the 2014/15 season he led his team as captain to triumph in the DFB Cup. Thanks to this triumph, Wolfsburg also qualified for the DFL Supercup, the game between the German champions and the cup winners. Benaglio was allowed to lift the trophy in the air, but due to a back injury, he was not operational.
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The changing of the guard in the national team
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At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Benaglio, today’s Teleclub expert Pascal Zuberbühler, stood in front of the sun. Two years later the balance of power has shifted, Benaglio is now the new number one ahead of Zuberbühler. But after losing two games, the dream of a triumph at the home European championships broke as soon as possible. But he shouldn’t lose his status as number one. At the 2010 World Cup, he is part of the team that bagged a 1-0 victory against a vastly superior Spain. Although he only conceded a single goal at this tournament (0: 1 against Chile and 0: 0 against Honduras), Switzerland was eliminated in the group stage. Because Switzerland missed the Euro 2012, the 2014 World Cup will be its last major tournament. And it ends with perhaps the bitterest defeat of his career.
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Probably the bitterest defeat of his career
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At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Switzerland qualified for the first time with Benaglio as number one for a round of 16. There you meet Argentina, which is full of stars. It is a game that fans will remember forever. With his reflexes, Benaglio brings the gauchos to the edge of despair, he defuses everything. Finally, after 90 goalless minutes, it goes into overtime. The Swiss play liberated, they feel closer to victory now. But things turned out differently: In the 118th minute, Angel di Maria scored the 1-0.
An Argentine commentator goes crazy (video below) and yells into the microphone, among other things: “Argentina 1! Switzerland 0! Switzerland 0! Switzerland 0! Go work in a bank, Benaglio! Go work in a bank, Benaglio! Give me a 4 percent annual dollar loan, Benaglio, and I’ll take it! “
It wasn’t the last upset of the game, though. Switzerland wants to force the equalization and should achieve it. In the 121st minute there was a last corner kick, Benaglio could no longer hold anything in goal, he stormed into the opposing penalty area – and the corner actually flies in his direction. Benaglio starts an overhead kick, clearly misses the target, but the ball flies to Shaqiri. He crosses the ball to the middle, where the substitute Dzemaili climbs the highest and heads the ball from about four meters on the post – from there the ball bounces on his shin and rolls past the goal. More bad luck is not possible! After the World Cup, Benaglio resigns from the national team and makes way for Yann Sommer.
2014 World Cup: Benaglio kicked off the last top chance of the game with an overhead kick in the round of 16 against Argentina (0: 1) in extra time.
