He has not played a Cup final since the 15-16 year, when he was a substitute for Bravo.
Hit has rained a lot since Marc-André Ter Stegen will contest his last final of Copa del Rey. Despite having been in Can Barça and that in that time the Catalan team has swelled to play finals, the truth is that the Teuton has not been present in all of them. Not at least on the grass.
The last time the German played the game for the title of this tournament it was in the 15-16 course, when he was not yet the goalkeeper who played the most games a year with Barcelona. At that time he shared the position with Claudio Bravo Y Luis Enrique opted for a Solomonic decision under sticks: the Chilean played The league and German, the rest. That allowed Marc-André, among other things, win the Champions League in the 14-15 season.
Once the 15-16 season was over and after the ordeal of Ter Stegen In the offices, the Germanic became the team’s starting goalkeeper. Happened to play League Y Champions to leave the Cup to the substitute goalkeeper on duty.
Koeman’s change
So it had been until now. The system of alternation under sticks, established by Pep Guardiola in the 08-09 season it lasted until the arrival of Ronald Koeman to the Barça bench. The Dutchman warned from the first day that he did not work like that and, after giving the place to Neto in the first matches of the competition, he ended up turning to Ter Stegen as soon as the serious began. Thus, the foreseeable thing is that this Saturday it will be the German who is under the sticks of the Barcelona goal.
If Ter Stegen looks back and remembers what his role and weight in the team was the last time he played in a Cup final, he will realize his evolution within Barça. In those early years, although it had stellar interventions – it was fundamental for the triplet of Luis Enrique-, had a more discreet profile, in the shadow of the great stars that inhabited that wardrobe.
Seven years after his arrival at Barça, Ter Stegen is a captain without an armband, one of the team’s authorized voices and one of the most self-critical. A heavyweight, come on.
