Manuel Neuer produced a stunning performance at the Bernabéu to help Bayern Munich to a quarter-final first-leg victory over Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
During TNT Sports’ coverage of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday night, Liverpool and England legend Steven Gerrard said: “It just goes to show how important goalkeepers are at this stage of the competition. He’s been massive tonight for Bayern.”
He was, of course, talking about Manuel Neuer, who at the age of 40, put in a typically excellent performance in the Bernabéu as Bayern Munich earned their first away win against Real Madrid since 2001.
The 2-1 victory was in no small part down to Neuer’s nine saves, the most on record (since 2003-04) against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in a Champions League knockout game.
9 – Manuel Neuer is the first goalkeeper since detailed data collection to record 9 saves against Real Madrid in a knockout-match at the Bernabeu. Wall. pic.twitter.com/cdCoi1Jx84
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) April 8, 2026
Gerrard’s praise came after Neuer had blocked a shot from Vinícius Júnior in the 82nd minute, which was probably one of his more routine stops of the game. His highlight came after 65 minutes when Kylian Mbappé fired a shot hard and low to the German goalkeeper’s right, but despite recently entering his fifth decade, Neuer was able to get down with outstanding reflexes to claw away the goal-bound shot.
Neuer was making his 136th Champions League start for Bayern, equalling Lionel Messi’s total for Barcelona (136). He’s now behind only Iker Casillas for the most starts for a single club in the competition (149 for Real Madrid), and he marked the occasion with one of his best showings.
Goals either side of half-time from Luis Díaz and Harry Kane put Bayern in control in the Spanish capital, while the menacing Michael Olise tormented poor Álvaro Carreras down the Bayern right time and again.
However, when you have Vinícius and Mbappé, you will always pose a threat, and Madrid began to create more chances after going 2-0 down early in the second half.
Neuer was mostly able to keep them at bay, saving from Vinícius and Mbappé three times each, as well as producing stops to deny substitutes Brahim Díaz and Éder Militão. He even had to readjust to save the ball from looping into his own goal in the first half after a Vinícius cross deflected off Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano.
He was eventually beaten by Mbappé in the 74th minute, though even then Neuer almost came out on top. A fabulous low ball across the Bayern box from Trent Alexander-Arnold found Mbappé, whose shot from close range had the highest xG value of all of Madrid’s 20 efforts in the game (0.6). Neuer pawed the ball onto the crossbar, but it came down the wrong side of the line as far as he was concerned, and Álvaro Arbeloa’s men were back in the tie.
Neuer’s nine saves were the most he had made in a game for Bayern in any competition since his 10 stops against Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League in November 2020.
Manuel Neuer saves v Real Madrid 2025-26 UCL QF 1st leg
In fact, he has only ever made as many as nine saves in a single match four times for Bayern in his 592 games for the club. All of those have come in the Champions League. Neuer made nine saves against Juventus in March 2016, before recording 10 against Real Madrid in April 2017, though that was in a 2-1 home defeat.
His performance on Tuesday was a particularly phenomenal effort, though, especially when you consider he turned 40 last month. Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer (42) is the only player older than Neuer to have featured in the Champions League this season. The Bayern stopper is even older than his head coach, Vincent Kompany, who turns 40 on Friday.
Neuer will likely be kept busy in the return leg in Munich next Wednesday. Bayern take a lead back to the Allianz Arena, largely thanks to their veteran goalkeeper, but this is Real Madrid in the Champions League. It would be no surprise to see the La Liga giants peppering the Bayern goal in the hope of staying in the competition in which they have enjoyed so much success.
“I’ve said it before: 40 is still young. I’ll be 40 this weekend and I know it’s still young,” Kompany stressed after the win. “We needed those moments from [Neuer] today. There’s no success at this level without these moments from a goalkeeper, a defender, a striker… and we’ll need that again next week.”
Neuer himself said: “It’s just fun to play with this team and coaching staff. Anything is possible.”
For a person born in 1986 to be producing such a performance on the biggest stage against some of the world’s best players, perhaps he’s right. Anything really is possible.
UEFA Champions League Stats Opta
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