Looking at the losing side's Cesar, although the blue-black army's goal was breached five times, objectively speaking, Cesar's performance in this match still had its bright spots. The Brazilian made a total of six successful saves, the highest in the entire game. As for the five goals conceded, the first one was due to Stankevich's mistake, and for the second one, Cesar's ability to block Edu's first shot already showed his skill. The fourth goal was Ranocchia's own goal, and before the fifth goal, Cesar also made two continuous blocks. The only point worth discussing is the third goal where Cesar indeed guessed wrong on Raul's shooting direction. In this match, Inter Milan had a total of 18 shots, while Schalke 04 had 17. From another perspective, the number of tests both goalkeepers endured were roughly the same. However, the 5-2 score tells us that Neuer has achieved a decisive victory over Cesar. Although in terms of the number of saves, Neuer's four were less than Cesar's six, Neuer made two crucial saves that were extremely important. At the 39th minute, Sneijder's free-kick angle was very tricky, but Neuer, with good anticipation, moved ahead of time and securely caught the ball. At the 47th minute, Neuer once again deflected Eto'o's powerful shot from 12 yards out with a single hand. It should be noted that at that moment, the score was still tied at 2-2. If it weren't for Neuer's excellent performance, the score might have easily become 4-2 at that time. If that were the case, Schalke would likely have collapsed early.
As a goalkeeper, having your own goal breached five times is indeed shameful, but in this match, Cesar's disgrace was due to Inter Milan's poor backline. Inter's defense was riddled with errors in this game, and by the time Cesar saw the ball, most of the time the opposing forwards had already brought it into the penalty area, sometimes even in a one-on-one situation. Under such circumstances, you really can't expect Cesar to make more saves; otherwise, he wouldn't be human, but a god!
In this match, besides facing challenges from Eto'o and Milito, Neuer also needed to engage in another form of "competition," which was the showdown with Inter's legendary goalkeeper, Cesar. As everyone knows, Cesar has performed exceptionally well in recent years and is currently a strong contender for the world's best goalkeeper. At Meazza Stadium, if Neuer could overshadow the Brazilian with better performance, it would undoubtedly further prove his own value.
Overall, Neuer performed excellently to secure the 5-2 win, and the German's performance indeed surpassed Cesar's. But the Inter legend doesn't need to overly blame himself for this defeat. "Walking from Munich back to Milan." From that moment on, everyone understood that your heart is blue-black. Even saints make mistakes sometimes, let alone in this match, where the cause of the massacre wasn't because of you at all!
Although Neuer is only 25 years old, his outstanding performances over the past two years have shown the world the strength and potential of the German rising star. The Kicker magazine once gave such an evaluation of the German: "If it weren't for Neuer, Schalke 04 might still be struggling in the relegation zone." Neuer's contract will end in 2012, but even so, Bayern Munich, known for rational investment, ignored opposition from half of their fans and offered a high price of 20 million Euros for Neuer, highlighting his importance.
The aspect where Inter Milan and Schalke 04 are closest in strength is actually the positions farthest apart on the football field. As two of the best goalkeepers in today's football world, the "pk" between Cesar and Neuer was also one of the highlights of this match. Although both sides had many brilliant performances, the 5-2 score still allowed Neuer to win without any suspense.