“Disrespectful”
Ex-DFB keeper criticizes dealing with Ter Stegen
Updated on July 25th, 2025 – 1:31 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Not an easy time for Marc-André ter Stegen: first the booting in Barcelona, now a back surgery. Ex-nationality keeper René Adler finds clear words.
Marc-André Ter Stegen fights with a back injury-less than a year before the World Cup. For ex-national goalkeeper René Adler, the location of the 33-year-old is extremely difficult, the time of injury is unfavorable.
Adler told the German Press Agency: “The situation is so complex. I wish him that he will quickly get fit again and that he finds the peace. But he does not have the time. The World Cup is just around the corner and it has to be played. He will inevitably have to do something else in winter.”
Ter Stegen is currently canceled due to back surgery for several months. It has been the second serious injury since national coach Julian Nagelsmann promoted him to German number one. The national goalkeeper is also under pressure at the club: Barça coach Hansi Flick has downgraded him back to the third goalkeeper. “It is not conceivable that he will go to the World Cup without a game practice. It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else,” said Adler.
The 40-year-old also found sharp words for the current situation at FC Barcelona: “What was done with the boy is disrespectful. It is incredible what is pounded on him. He is now being dropped by his family, i.e. the club, for which he gained so much and for which he has gained so much.” Ter Stegen has been under contract with the Catalans since 2014.
The former goalkeeper from Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV knows the situation with the months of injury break from his own experience. In 2010 he was intended as a regular goalkeeper for the World Cup in South Africa, but had to cancel at short notice due to two broken ribs on the spine. At that time, Manuel Neuer moved into the starting eleven.
Adler explained: “I wanted to show the world what a good goalkeeper. I am convinced that the combination of the pressure from outside as a German national goalkeeper, which is unchangeable, paired with the inner pressure that I made myself, took out the game back then.”