Marc-André ter Stegen has made the decision to have surgery. The German goalkeeper will undergo surgery to solve his back problems, which have prevented him from participating in Barcelona’s last three games. The objective is for Barcelona’s starting goalkeeper to be ready in two months when the Champions League returns with the round of 16 qualifiers.
The low back pain that Ter Stegen suffers, as Barça reported on November 24, is due to a herniated disc that causes discomfort both in his back and other parts of the body when he makes certain movements. The second captain has been undergoing treatment and testing himself in the sports city but the pain does not subside despite rest. The intervention will take place this week, the club itself announced.
“After intensive discussions with the club’s medical team and various support experts, we have decided that I will undergo surgery. The pause obviously annoys me,” the goalkeeper acknowledges on his social networks, but Ter Stegen believes that he makes “the correct and safest decision to return to my club and the national team in the best conditions.”
Barcelona is left without its number 1 for about two months, counting on his recovery. The club considers that the time is right to undergo surgery for the Christmas break, in which there is no football for 14 days.
During his absence, the goalkeeper will miss the four remaining games to finish the year (Girona, Antwerp, Valencia and Almería) and Xavi will not be able to count on him for the start of 2024, when the Spanish Super Cup is played, from 10 to January 14. Barça will defend the title won in 2023 without Ter Stegen.
The second captain’s injury is a blow to the plans of the coaching staff, who consider the German indisputable, but the situation is less drastic since it has coincided with the appearance of Iñaki Peña. The youth player, with his saves in two very decisive games like the one against Porto and Atlético, gives peace of mind in the absence of the starting goalkeeper.
Ter Stegen, 31, has chosen to follow the advice given to him by the club’s medical services. Before, the goalkeeper, always very consistent, wanted to consult several opinions, including that of the German team’s doctors, to have all the information available, while trying to exhaust the options. “He is sad because he is one of the captains and suffers when he is not there,” Xavi explained in a press conference before the duel against the Colchoneros to highlight the German’s involvement.
The German goalkeeper is coming off one of his best seasons last year, in which he only conceded 18 goals in the League. With his performances, he was one of Barcelona’s strongholds in winning the championship. Ter Stegen, thanks to these records, won his first Zamora trophy. The goalkeeper was also key in the Super Cup, where he qualified the team for the final in the penalty shootout, against Betis.
This campaign, Ter Stegen continued at a very high level. He had played 17 games, with 15 goals conceded, but he had already managed to keep a clean sheet on 8 occasions.
The goalkeeper had to return early from his call-up with the German team for the FIFA date in November. Coach Nagelsmann justified that very severe pain in his back made it impossible for him to play the friendlies against Turkey and Austria.
Until that moment, he was one of the few Barcelona footballers who had not been injured at the beginning of the season, in which his entire spine has had physical problems. Before Ter Stegen, Araújo, Koundé, De Jong, Pedri, Gavi, Lewandowski and Raphinha passed through the infirmary. The last to fall was Iñigo Martínez.
In that sense, Ter Stegen is the second Barcelona player who will undergo surgery, after Gavi. The Andalusian had to undergo surgery to tear ligaments in his right knee that he suffered while playing for Spain.
