Welcome back to the Get German Football News advent calendar. As the countdown to Christmas continues, so does our festive fun on day seventeen, as we remember Manuel Neuer’s phenomenal 2015/16 campaign, when he broke a Bundesliga record of conceding just 17 goals.
Heading into the 2015/16 Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich had the chance to equal their own record of winning three straight Meisterschale’s. This would give Der Rekordmeister the opportunity to claim their fourth straight league title the following season and become the first side to ever do so in Germany.
However, in goal, Neuer had plans of his own. The then-29-year-old had his own eyes set on smashing records, conceding the fewest goals in a Bundesliga season, and keeping the most clean sheets in a Bundesliga campaign.
An opening day clean sheet against Hamburg saw Bayern also run out 5-0 winners, as by the end of matchday 14, Neuer could boast nine clean sheets while conceding just five goals. Nevertheless, matchday 14 would see Neuer concede three away to Borussia Mönchengladbach as Bayern fell to their first defeat of the season.
Regardless, five clean sheets in their next eight games meant that Bayern were cruising at the top of the table, while Neuer was also on course to break the two records he was after. However, a 2-1 defeat at Mainz on matchday 24 saw the Bayern shot-stopper concede more than one goal for the second time that season, but thankfully, it would also be the last.
Picking the ball out of his net on just four occasions in the final ten league games, Neuer broke the record he had previously set three years earlier when he conceded just 18 goals during the 2012–13 season. It was made even sweeter by the fact that he had also equalled the record the season prior, finally being able to complete the feat.
However, it would also be the clean sheet record that he broke, keeping 21 over the course of the campaign as Bayern comfortably won their third straight league title. It is a record that seems almost impossible to break in the future, but as they say, records are there to be broken.
GGFN | Will Shopland
