Vincent Kompany denies Manuel Neuer made a mistake for Arsenal’s third goal

Manuel Neuer and Dayot Upamecano have enjoyed stellar season at Bayern Munich, silencing doubters as the high line overseen by the club’s captain and enforced by the club’s star center back has kept opposition attacks at bay. But both players came under intense criticism in the Bavarians’ 3-1 loss in the Champions League against Arsenal FC, as Upamecano passed the ball to the opposition in the build up to their second goal and Neuer rushed out of his box only to be left in no man’s land as the Londoners’ forward slotted the ball into an empty net for their third.

But head coach Vincent Kompany had not heard the critique for the latter before Bayern’s press conference ahead of the Bundesliga match against St. Pauli. Asked a question in which Neuer’s culpability for the third goal was framed as a fact, he responded with shock and confusion: “What mistake are we talking about? I have a different opinion on that – what are you supposed to do as a goalkeeper, wait until he runs at you 1v1,” he continued, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “Or come out and help your teammate and anticipate the situation halfway?” He then backpedaled a bit, explaining his reaction by saying this was genuinely the first time he had heard the situation described as Neuer’s mistake.

Kompany was not, however, willing to go against the grain on the common belief of Upamecano’s fault for the second goal. “I debated the one you mentioned from Neuer, but I won’t debate this one. It’s a clear situation,” the former Anderlecht coach admitted, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, though he refused to blame the Frenchman. “But as a coach, you can’t ask your players to do something and then if it goes wrong you say you shouldn’t have done it. In the analysis afterwards, we can say, ‘This or that would have been better’, and then we can learn from it. But of course, we lost, and we have to learn from that in order to improve. And I’m sure he’ll use that to improve, to learn from it. That’s perfectly normal.”

Kompany continues to be incredibly consistent with his approach to press conferences. He refuses to put the blame on the shoulders of his players in public, knowing the headlines this would create. It is rather remarkable how little controversy he has created despite being the head coach at Bayern and the mine fields that inevitably puts in his path.