Neuer beats Nowitzki in charity event
Munich - Manuel Neuer underlined his goalkeeping ability once again in the 2012/13 season, but he showed he has another string to his bow in a charity event on Sunday.
Gündogan, Draxler and co.
Lining up with his ‘Manuel Neuer and Friends’ team against German basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki’s ‘All Stars’, the FC Bayern Munich custodian showed he also has an eye for goal, netting twice in an 8-7 victory in Würzburg.
Former Bayern great Paul Breitner, Borussia Dortmund and German international Ilkay Gündogan and FC Schalke 04’s Julian Draxler all helped Neuer’s team to victory in a game arranged by two of Germany’s most famous sportsmen to raise funds for their two charities: the Manuel Neuer Kids Foundation and Dirk Nowitzki Stiftung.
“As a professional sportsman, you are in a fortunate position of earning a lot of money and being a role model,” said Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Hummels, Kießling and Podolski fail to inspire
Nowitzki is regularly involved in charity work stateside. “That’s where we got the idea to do something in Germany,” he added.
Even though Nowitzki, who missed a penalty, had the help of Lukas Podolski, Mats Hummels and last season’s Bundesliga top goalscorer Stefan Kießling, he was unable to finish on the winning team, even if the only true winners were the childrens’ charities benefitting from the event.
