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Manuel Neuer Thinks He’ll Be Fit For Anfield Champions League Tie

The Bayern Munich captain is trying to recover from a hand injury in time to face Liverpool.

FC Bayern Muenchen v SL Benfica - UEFA Champions League Group E
What the actual fuck am I looking at here?
Photo by Alex Hassenstein/Getty Images

Manuel Neuer, long-time Germany and Bayern Munich number one, is amazingly just two matches shy of 100 Champions League appearances. It seems like the only thing that could stop Neuer from reaching that milestone is injury, but sadly he’s in a race against the clock to be fit for Tuesday’s match.

Luckily for the player, although maybe not Liverpool, is that Neuer appears to be winning the fitness race ahead of the Anfield clash.

“We’re all positive about it,” Neuer told ESPN. “I think I’ll be between the posts.”

“It’s my first game at Anfield. I’m looking forward to playing there. It’s a knockout tie, two finals. Hopefully it’ll be a great night for us.”

However, Bayern boss Niko Kovac is not as optimistic about Neuer’s return.

“We’ll see how it goes against Ausgburg with a view to the Liverpool game,” Kovac said. “We have to take it one step at a time, we can’t take any risks. We don’t want to make things worse. We won’t play him until he says he’s ready and the doctors are happy.”

One of the underrated parts of Champions League football is watching the greats of the game come to your backyard. And Neuer is, without a doubt, one of the greats of the last decade. Of course, over the last decade, Liverpool have rarely been in the position to host Neuer and/or Bayern Munich.

No matter what, it should be a great showdown between two 5-time winners. Indeed, whoever emerges from these fixtures will be one of the favorites to take down the whole thing.

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