Manuel Neuer called his early error in Bayern Munich's 2-2 draw with Augsburg a "silly mistake".
Neuer takes responsibility for 'silly mistake' in Bayern draw
Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 draw by Augsburg on Saturday, with Manuel Neuer making a huge mistake inside the opening 10 seconds.
Bayern twice came from behind at WWK Arena to salvage a point as Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown cancelled out goals from Robin Fellhauer and Rodrigo Ribeiro.
Fellhauer scored after just 8.37 seconds as he dispossessed Neuer and dispatched into an unguarded net, recording the fastest goal in Bundesliga history.
Bayern have started the Bundesliga season with 11 points from their first five matches – the last time they had fewer points at this stage was in 2010-11 (eight).
Nevertheless, Bayern are unbeaten in their last 29 Bundesliga games (W21 D8) – they have only had a longer unbeaten run away from home once before, with 33 consecutive unbeaten matches between 2012 and 2014.
"It was a silly mistake by me," said Neuer, who, at 40 years and 197 days old, has overtaken Jens Lehmann to become the seventh-oldest player in Bundesliga history.
"I had to bring the ball onto my left foot because two players were closing me down from the right. I should simply have made a different decision.
"I first had to reflect, take a deep breath and, of course, I still hoped we could turn the game around.
"I think we had the chances to do so, but unfortunately, we failed to take them."
Bayern failed to move level on points with early Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, who drew 2-2 with Werder Bremen on Friday.
Despite the costly mistake from Neuer, Vincent Kompany has backed his goalkeeper to bounce back quickly.
"Of course, we wished for a better start. I've played enough football to know that this happens, and you can't change it," said the Bayern boss.
"He [Neuer] knows how to deal with the situation, and we stand together as a team."
