Mike Maignangoalkeeper of AC Milan and the French national team, spoke on ‘The Bridge’, a format of ESN Media on YouTubeduring which several important moments were touched upon. Below are his statements.
It’s all about mentality: how do you improve it?
“You said (addressing Samuel Eto’o, ed.) an important word: ‘madness’. If you are not crazy, insane, if you do not have this mentality, you cannot be a goalkeeper. Nowadays all goalkeepers of a certain level, and we are talking about the important ones, must be crazy and have a strong mentality, because otherwise it does not work. Today it is difficult to find a goalkeeper of a certain level who does not have all these characteristics, because otherwise he is automatically outclassed by his teammates, by the pressure, by mistakes, even if everyone can make mistakes, but the most important thing is what you do afterwards”.
Which colleague do you look up to?
“Honestly, I won’t go into too much detail, I really like Neuer. He’s great, he’s completely changed the way of playing the role. But he can also make mistakes, like in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. And yet this doesn’t change anything, because we all make mistakes, but in the end it’s how you react to them that counts. And I think that, even though the end of the game was near, his mistake, for a young goalkeeper like me, and for the others who are even younger, will serve to say: ‘Even the best make mistakes’. So let this be an incentive to continue despite our mistakes”.