Overview
- Neuer will captain Bayern in a sold-out Veltins Arena match on Saturday, a game widely presented as his likely last visit to his boyhood club.
- He extended his Bayern contract for one final season and said retirement after this year is 'very likely,' while expressing the ambition to finish with a third treble.
- Neuer has repeatedly voiced his emotional ties to Gelsenkirchen and Schalke even though many fans still resent his controversial 2011 transfer to Bayern.
- Schalke supervisory chair Alex Hefer publicly floated the idea of Neuer returning to the club after his playing career and Bayern president Herbert Hainer said the club wants to involve former players in future roles.
- At 40, Neuer arrives with a decorated record that includes a 2014 World Cup and multiple world goalkeeper awards, and Schalke’s promotion back to the Bundesliga has made this match a personal milestone that could shape where he works next.