BAYERN GAME February 2025
FC Bayern‘ s life insurance policy:
Neuer shows opponents they can‘ t get past him.
IN WINTER, I WORE AN ICE HOCKEY KIT IN TRAINING
Sepp Maier
SM: Of course, the material has been continuously developed over the past decades, but the inner surface has essentially not changed, the basic idea is still the same. There’ s no better material for catching a ball safely. You’ ll always have goalkeepers who let a ball slip through – but it‘ s not down to the glove. MN: What I sometimes also do in the rain is apply a little Vaseline to the gloves, which gives me a little extra grip in difficult conditions. SM: We didn‘ t think of Vaseline back then. In those days, it was only used for smearing on babies( laughs). Manu, when you hear stories like that – is it a different world? MN: On the contrary, it sounds very familiar to me. Sepp had the same thoughts in his day that I have now: How can I prepare myself in the best possible way and do everything I can to put in my best performance on the pitch? Sepp would also fit in perfectly today and would be a world-class goalkeeper because he always thought about progress, about being more involved in the game and coming out of his goalkeeping area. Or also in terms of communication, he told me earlier how it went with Franz Beckenbauer … SM: … I told Manu he can be glad he never had to play with him( grins). MN: I can well imagine that as a goalkeeper you sometimes clash with a free spirit like that on the pitch … SM: … he always accused me of giving him a slipped disc because I allegedly jumped into his back so often. MN: I‘ m personally very grateful to him: He was one of the first people to speak out strongly in favour of my move to FC Bayern, even though we didn‘ t know each other. I found Franz Beckenbauer to be an incredibly open person, he was immediately accessible to everyone – and in return he was welcomed with open arms all over the world. He was also always committed to ensuring that his FC Bayern were doing well. SM: I first met Franz when he joined FC Bayern, when I was 15 and he was 14. He always had the perfect response in any situation – and was never afraid to say things in public that nobody else dared to. My humour was always spontaneous and he had this ready wit, so the two of us got on quite well together. MN: To get back to the topic of communication on the pitch, as it was with you and Franz back then – these are all things that we still deal with every day. Sepp, when you see the pitches and current training facilities here at Säbener Straße – does it make you envious? SM: 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 kit from them, which I wore in training. MN: But you didn’ t wear a helmet, did you? SM: No, and I didn‘ t have a stick in my hand either( laughs). It was more about the knee and elbow pads. 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? MN: 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 presents various forms of training. We had 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. SM: 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‘ d 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.
30 FC Bayern Magazine