The Camp Nou launches siren songs to Messi. Lewandowski seems to have missed the goal. Pedri and De Jong have been injured. Dembélé will reappear on Saturday yet. And the central pair changes often. The only thing that has had continuity in this Barça, which has never failed, is Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper is the common denominator of this League and the differential factor for the Barcelona team to be so close to proclaiming itself champion.
Ter Stegen has record numbers. Nobody has been more regular at the highest level than the German, who has only conceded 9 goals in 30 games. Up to 23 league games, Barcelona has left a clean sheet. They are brilliant numbers, never seen before either in the club or in the League. On the way to his first Zamora, he has broken all his personal bests and can pulverize the historical records in the First Division such as the 18 goals conceded by Liaño (1993-94) and Oblak (2015-16).
The goalkeeper, who turns 31 on Sunday, has done so by being reborn after a course in which he had lost his saving aura, after two very consecutive operations on his right knee, in May 2021 and in August 2020. However, Xavi He kept him in the position and protected him with words in the press room. “To train him, it has been an advantage for me to know him. We were partners. I know what his personality is, I know that he is a very methodical person and a very perfectionist â€, confesses the coach. That already gives an idea of ​​Ter Stegen’s acclimatization at the club, where he has been nine years.
In the six previous seasons as the undisputed starter – in the first two he competed with Bravo – he never conceded less than 28 goals in the championship. Last League he picked up the ball from the net 34 times and only put the bolt in 10 games. Night and day. “Marc was aware that he had to improve compared to last year. Both he and De la Fuente, the goalkeeping coach, have worked a lotâ€, Xavi confirms. Ter Stegen rested this summer and did not go with Germany to the Nations League to start at the top and without discomfort in the joint.
The two saves for Griezmann on Sant Jordi Sunday are added to the list of saving interventions in this League, including another against the Frenchman’s squad at the Metropolitan, the one that stopped Aspas at the Camp Nou, one on one that he brought out Ramazani and Borja Mayoral who faced him alone, that of Jaume Costa point blank in Son Moix. Rayo, tonight’s rival, was the first to suffer it back in mid-August. Ãlvaro GarcÃa and Salvi were almost celebrating when they met the German.
“This year is at an extraordinary level. I would say that currently he is the best goalkeeper in the world. And more for the game that we want. For me it is a peace of mind to have Marc in the goalâ€, resolves Xavi.
Since the League returned on New Year’s Eve after the World Cup, Barça has scored more than two goals in only two games (against Sevilla and Elche). And when the scores are so tight, it’s safe to have a decisive goalkeeper. At the Camp Nou he has barely conceded two goals (one from a penalty and an own goal) and now he has gone 441 minutes unbeaten when at the beginning of the League he was already 636. “We are not up for records,” says Xavi. Ter Stegen, yes.
