After a season, last season, full of defensive problems, where Ter Stegen was under suspicion, Barça has regained defensive reliability. He has spent four days in the League and in three, including the 0-3 against Sevilla, he has kept a clean sheet. There are many factors that explain this substantial change, where the German goalkeeper has recovered his essential figure with decisive interventions. Just remember the monumental stop at Rakitic at the Sánchez Pizjuán when the match was still 0-0. It is not the first of its kind in this course, proof that Ter Stegen already feels back.
“Xavi has recovered what we want to be”, said the German goalkeeper, happy that Barça has recovered defensive mechanisms that it had lost. To begin with, the current defense is nothing like that of last season. It has gone from Alves-Araujo-Piqué-Alba to Koundé-Araujo-Eric García-Balde. In other words, only the Uruguayan center-back survives.
“After a few years that we didn’t do it this way, Xavi has recovered what we wanted to be and he is doing it spectacularly”, underlined the Barça goalkeeper, who has only conceded one goal in these first four league games, the one that framework Isaac in Anoetta. Rayo, Valladolid and Sevilla were left dry against Barça.
“In general, 2022 has been a good year for me, with good feelings. It helps that Xavi has changed things that influence the team’s defensive work and that favors me,” Ter Stegen told Movistar, emphasizing that the coach “has a very clear idea of the game”.
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And the team, according to the goalkeeper, is showing its defensive commitment. “On the field we feel good and, above all, to fight for the teammate next to us and for the whole team”, he added.
“For us it is very important to keep a clean sheet. It is important to defend the area, cover centers… That gives us a lot of security. And Marc is in a sensational moment”
Xavi, Barça coach
So clear that it has recovered defensive concepts that were lost at Barça, a team that feels powerful in its area, protected as it is by the valuable hands of Ter Stegen. “For us it is very important to keep a clean sheet. It is important to defend the area, cover centers… That gives us a lot of security. And Marc is in a sensational moment”, said the happy coach after the win at the Sánchez Pizjuán.