Villarreal’s Geronimo Rulli must outshine Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer to make Champions League history

They were born 12,000 kilometres and six years apart; in vastly different cultures, languages, upbringings; with huge disparities physically and in terms of trophies won. On the face of it there’s not a lot to unite Villarreal’s Geronimo Rulli and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer. Except that they have both chosen, or were predestined for, that loneliest of professions: the goalkeeper. And if one of them produces a mega-performance Tuesday at the Allianz Arena there’s a significantly greater possibility he’ll seal a place in the Champions League semifinal (against Liverpool, you can bet.)

Neuer: son of a cop, born within sight of Schalke’s old Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen, voice-artist for a Disney film character, winner of half-a-million bucks for charity on the German version of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?” and one of the leaders in the argument over who has been the greatest goalkeeper of all time.

Rulli: ball boy to Juan Veron’s Estudiantes as a kid in Argentina, seven years spent without the clubs at which he was registered — Estudiantes, Real Sociedad, Manchester City and Montpellier — fully owning his economic rights because of a $4 million investment in him from a venture capital fund in 2014, and admired in San Sebastian for the loving part he played in the cancer battle of a young Real Sociedad fan during his fight through to remission. Trophy-free for most of his time in Spain, Rulli could walk down the streets almost anywhere except San Sebastian, Villarreal or his hometown of La Plata in Argentina and pass unrecognised.

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To put meat on the bones of this initially clear mismatch: Neuer is a World Cup winner, Champions League winner, has lifted 30 senior trophies for club and country, and is the only keeper in history to win the Treble twice.

Rulli? Well the 29-year-old Argentine is in this transcendental…