Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has revealed that Manuel Neuer informed him that he should have had his controversial disallowed goal allowed when the Three Lions were eliminated by Germany from the 2010 World Cup.
The Germans went on to thrash Fabio Capello’s men 4-1 as the Thomas Muller scored a brace while Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski also found themselves on the scoresheet.
As England were trailing 2-1 on the verge of the conclusion of the first-half, Lampard blasted a shot which struck the underside of the Germany crossbar and the ball went just over the line. The referee Jorge Larrionda, however, waved play on and did not allow the goal.
In his defence, it was not an easy call to make with the naked eye. Although Steven Gerrard managed to hit the post during the second half, England were outplayed during the second half and seemed to lose momentum after the controversial Lampard incident.
While the Germans did rightfully win on the day as they were the better side, one could argue that the pendulum could have swung towards the Three Lions had Lampard’s goal been allowed and that it could have been the English who ended up emerging victorious.
Lampard has since mentioned in an interview with FourFourTwo magazine that a chance meeting with Neuer led to the Bayern Munich shot-stopper coming clean about the incident.
He said: “He’s always linked closely to me, as I often get asked about the goal that never was,” says the new manager of Derby County. “I actually bumped into him on holiday last year and we had a joke about it by the pool. He was open to the fact that it was a goal – pretty easy to say years after the event!”
Meanwhile, despite missing the vast majority of last season for Bayern Munch due to injury, Neuer is set to remain first-choice for Germany during the World Cup. This will be the third successive World Cup that he serves as first-choice.
Many will feel that this is not a correct decision as number two Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has been regularly playing for Barcelona who won the La Liga last season.
