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Marc-André ter Stegen during DFB training
Photo: Revierfoto / imago images / Revierfoto
At the start of the international match week, Marc-André ter Stegen answered a few fan questions on Twitter.
Among other things, he was asked if he had an idol.
His answer: »Oliver Kahn.
So much passion. «Oliver Kahn, the top dog who has always fought for a mission.
For whom it was the greatest possible offense that he was relegated to number two at the 2006 home World Cup.
And who then accepted the role as a substitute keeper, no matter how difficult it was for him.
Marc-André ter Stegen knows this conflict, he even knows it very well.
The topic has been with the keeper of FC Barcelona for years.
Even if he is in the goal of the DFB-Elf again in the evening against North Macedonia (8.45 p.m. RTL, live ticker SPIEGEL), even if he has been doing convincing, sometimes outstanding performances at Barca for years - his status as number two in the national team is cemented.
Now maybe more than ever.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is once again undisputed, the national team is no longer even discussed.
There was a time when it was different.
After the World Cup in Russia, the goalkeeper debate was suddenly on the table.
Neuer was weak, he too had played a mediocre World Cup, and his role as team captain was not a laudable one in the Mesut Özil case.
The calls for a changing of the guard were getting louder.
The fact that Bayern Patriarch Uli Hoeneß worked so vehemently for Neuer and against Ter Stegen and made the "West German press" responsible for the discussions actually added fuel to the fire.
Neuer accepted the challenge
The time seemed ripe for a change in the German goal, which would also be a generation change: Ter Stegen is significantly younger than Neuer, there are more than six years between the two.
But the Bayern goalkeeper accepted the challenge and sent verbal declarations of war in the direction of Ter Stegen.
And, more importantly, it stabilized its performance.
Then came Bayern's 8-2 in the Champions League over FC Barcelona in early summer, a humiliation for the Catalans, but also a personal defeat for goalkeeper Ter Stegen, who looked unhappy after conceding several goals.
It was a quarter-final, in the duel between Neuer and Ter Stegen it was a kind of anticipated final.
Since then, nobody has talked about the generation change in the German goal.
Although Bayern have conceded as many goals this season as they have not for a long time, although Ter Stegen has been at the highest level in Barcelona for months after his knee surgery at the beginning of the season.
The club owes him the progress in the cup against Sevilla FC, when the 28-year-old saved a penalty, among other things.
At FC Barcelona there has been a lot of talk of crisis this season, a lot of losers, Ter Stegen was never affected by it.
Ter Stegen's status at FC Barcelona is as unassailable as Neuer currently looks at the DFB.
His standing at the DFB, with Joachim Löw and his goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke, is high, it always has been.
Köpke has missed few opportunities in public to praise the qualities of ter Stegen.
Only: He couldn't get past Manuel Neuer, he can't get past.
And one can add: he won't be around in the foreseeable future either.
This can go on until the European Championship at home
Manuel Neuer turned 35 a few days ago, he will be 36 at the 2022 World Cup and 38 at the 2024 European Championship. That is a high age for a goalkeeper, but not a biblical age.
The Bayern goalkeeper would be ambitious enough to keep going, so far he has only hinted at the end of his career, never committed himself, at the club the move from Schalke Alexander Nübel seems to have spurred him on to show the younger ones again.
When it comes to the goalkeeper question, it's a bit like the British royal family: You have to wait a long time to succeed to the throne, and when the moment comes, you might be too old by then.
The fact that Neuer renounces his action against North Macedonia and thus his 99th international match in the evening has led the Süddeutsche Zeitung to use the headline: “Sensation!
Goalkeeper Neuer is giving away a competitive game. ”That sounds ironic, but it's pretty serious.
For Marc-André ter Stegen it is the 25th appearance in the DFB team in the evening, for a goalkeeper who has been under contract with the glorious FC Barcelona for seven years, most of which as number one, it is a comparatively ridiculously low one Number.
He is least able to do that himself.