Unfortunate incidents in football are a common occurrence, but for Barcelona they are almost an expectation. The Catalan club has constantly faced difficulties due to unforeseen circumstances and that remains the case today as well. For proof, someone would have to look no further than the Barcelona injury list.
Many of the team’s most potent and crucial players are currently sidelined due to injuries. Some of these issues have popped up out of nowhere and the consequences of those injuries have led to Hansi Flick having to rotate his squad often and rely heavily on the club’s youth players as well.
Unfortunately, there are some injuries that can lead to problems in finding an adequate replacement for them. One such injury was the one that came towards Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, the Barcelona goalkeeper and undisputed number one between the sticks for the team.
With a long-term injury, it is now suspected that he will miss the entirety of the season. In his place, back-up goalkeeper Inaki Pena is the natural choice to take over but there are divided opinions over whether or not he is capable enough to defend the Barcelona goal on a regular basis.
For Hansi Flick at least, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, there seems to be no doubt that he has the ability to do exactly that this season:
“Iñaki can be our goalkeeper for the whole season, why not? He’s working very well. That’s good, and the confidence will grow game by game. As for the other goalkeeper, I don’t know, we’ll have to wait.”
For now, it seems that Pena will have the faith of Hansi Flick to do what he is expected to do. In Ter Stegen’s absence, this is his chance to step up and deliver for a team with whom he had mixed results last season while Ter Stegen was out of action for a while.
As for a new goalkeeper, many reliable sources have confirmed that formerly retired Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will be the one to arrive at Barcelona in the coming days. His quality is undoubted, but his fitness will likely dictate the future for both him and Pena.
