"Love and courtesy": Neuer mocks the insults of Schalke fans

The veteran goalkeeper praised Karius

Manuel Neuer returned to Schalke on Saturday for the goalless draw between his Bayern Munich side and his old club in the second round of the German Bundesliga. Afterwards, the goalkeeper hit back with a touch of sarcasm at the insults hurled his way by the home fans.

Had he hoped for more appreciation and applause than boos and offensive chants, including being called a "son of a bitch"? The German shrugged it off. "These are compliments. This is love, that is how I put it."

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The trip back to Gelsenkirchen clearly stirred something in him. "It was nice to come back. I spent 20 years here, and I learned everything here. My family lives here. I really enjoyed it."

Turning to Bayern's display, Neuer struck a measured note. "We had 15 minutes in which we were not in the best positioning or at the best pace, but I think we controlled the match, and all the statistics confirm that. We were not effective, and we did not take our big chances."

He also singled out his goalkeeping counterpart. "Loris (Karius) deserved the man of the match award, he saved three very big chances."

With two rounds gone, the Bayern number one refused to read too much into the standings. "We really do not need to look at the table after two matches. We have a Champions League match next week (against Norway's Bodo/Glimt), and we want to win and start well. After that we have a difficult away match at Elversberg. We are taking each match on its own."