Marc-André ter Stegen has been a pillar for FC Barcelona. He is one of the very important reasons Barcelona tops the league table. Messi has been a driving force in the attacking aspect but ter Stegan has been massive when it comes to the defensive aspect of the game.
One of the reasons Barcelona came out with all three points against Atlético Madrid is the massive presence of ter Stegan between the sticks. He made three saves overall in the game against Atlético Madrid
Atlético were the better side for most of the first half. Barca seldom harried Jan Oblak, however as long as the hosts weren’t far out by the last phases of the match, at that point the Catalans consistently appear to come on solid against the Rojiblancos.
That the guests were still in the game at half-time owes everything, totally everything, to the ability of Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The two saves that the German made to deny Atleti were world-class. Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been producing massive service to Barcelona in almost all the games and it may be time for the Barcelona goalkeeper to take over the gloves from Manuel Neuer for the national side too.
A save from Hermoso owed a lot to his capacity to spread himself effectively, a colossally downplayed component of a goalkeeper’s arsenal. It wasn’t ‘fortunate’ as some have proposed.
His subsequent save evoked recollections of Gordon Banks’ save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup finals. A strong descending header from Morata, near the keeper’s body making it hard to alter and keep the ball out, but then ter Stegen some way or another oversaw it.
Genuinely, the club is honored to have such an excellent player between the sticks, he basically never realizes when he’s beaten. What did he cost once more? €12m!!
Another player, one who cost the club decisively nothing as far as the transfer expense, keeps on astounding.
Exactly when the game appeared as though it was setting out toward a 0-0 draw – which wouldn’t have been the most noticeably terrible outcome on the planet, let’s face it – Leo Messi springs up with a move that we’ve seen so often throughout the years.
When he’d got the ball and seen Sergi Roberto advance, taking defenders with him, everyone guessed what might happen, the main inquiry was whether the Argentinian would get space and time to execute.
Because of Luis Suarez’s featherlight help, the ball was past Jan Oblak before he’d finished his full-length jump. No big surprise Atleti’s players had their head in their grasp, some pounding the floor in dissatisfaction.
They’d played well, very well really. What’s more, they were fixed once more by a snapshot of an unadulterated virtuoso.
That is 19 games that Diego Simeone’s side have been not able to beat Barca in the league, an intriguing statistics.
Besides Sevilla, Atleti are Leo’s preferred unfortunate casualties, and Sunday night’s game may be more than some other against the Rojiblancos, demonstrated that you can shackle Messi all you like yet disregard him for a brief moment, and he will make you pay.
