Graham Hunter, Spain author
Hansi Flick pulled off extra soccer wizardry in Barcelona's 5-1 thrashing of Villarreal on Sunday. Like all good magicians, although, it is time for him to swirl his cape, twirl his moustache, look the viewers straight in the attention and announce, “And now for my next trick!”
The German coach's Sunday sorcery was a devastating efficiency in which his group may simply have scored 5 – 6 extra, towards a troublesome rival, utilizing three extra kids in the Barça lineup who, between them, had a mere 5 LaLiga begins for the membership: Gerard Martín (2), Sergi Domínguez (1) and Pablo Torre (2). Barcelona shrugged off their injury disaster, their tiredness having performed — and been overwhelmed — with ten males at AS Monaco in the Champions League on Thursday, plus the juvenile nature of their XI (by no means thoughts the truth that Villarreal attacked them with venom and will themselves have scored 5 – 6 occasions) but received in gorgeous trend.
In the quick time since becoming a member of, Flick has put enormous religion in a raft of junior and utterly inexperienced gamers from his youth system and produced successful, high-scoring, top-of-the-league soccer, which makes him, for those who pardon the comparability, Barcelona's model of David Blaine or David Copperfield.
The purpose he urgently must high these feats and conjure up one thing much more particular is the horrible injury to his first-choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
The Germany worldwide had made three unbelievable saves to maintain rampant Villarreal at bay earlier than collapsing in agony when clutching a cross simply earlier than half-time. Barça introduced that the 32-year-old suffered a “complete rupture” of the patellar tendon in his proper knee, and sources have instructed ESPN that he can be sidelined for months and is unlikely to play once more this season.
The crux of the matter is that Ter Stegen's deputy, Iñaki Peña, is solely not adequate to assist the Spanish Liga leaders preserve their extraordinary progress, and positively not adequate to assist Barcelona obtain the top-eight standing required in order to progress mechanically to the Champions League knockout rounds. No need to enter depth about Barcelona's monetary truthful play (FFP) issues, or their €1 billion world debt, the tough reality is that it is important Barcelona progress in the Champions League and grasp the income that may start to free them from their damaging monetary restrictions — or else the vicious cycle continues.
If I sound imply a few 25-year-old who managed to see out the victory towards the Yellow Submarine on Sunday, then let me remind you of the horrors that Barcelona suffered when Peña deputised for Ter Stegen final season. Statistics do not inform your entire story, however they're a very good starting.
Peña performed 17 occasions throughout 4 competitions for Xavi Hernandez's aspect and conceded 32 occasions. Is a goalkeeper chargeable for each ball that flies previous him? No, however when you find yourself delivery in such excessive numbers, after which there is a stark comparability when Ter Stegen returns to the aspect, the proof builds. (The German solely conceded 27 in 28 LaLiga matches final season.)
Peña additionally performed his half in some of the landmark humiliations that contributed to Xavi's eventual dismissal: 3-2 towards Royal Antwerp, 4-2 at house to Girona, 4-1 towards Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa ultimate, a 4-2 Copa del Rey elimination at Athletic Club, 5-3 at house to Villarreal. See the sample?
This just isn't, by any means, an assault on the keeper. It's the identical cold-eyed evaluation that Flick and his employees may have been finishing up from the start of their 162-mile journey house on Sunday night time.
Is Peña the reply to Ter Stegen's absence? That's the place Flick's subsequent magic trick must be his most spectacular piece of conjuring but.
By the time Ter Stegen returned from again issues final season, it was apparent that his Spanish deputy was relieved to be out of the firing line.
Peña, by fashionable requirements, is a comparatively small keeper whose value is predicated upon agility and old-school save-making. Where he isn't glorious is in both his distribution of the ball from his toes or when he's requested to be the “free man” sweeper on the again, when Barcelona play out by beating their opponents' press. While Peña was in the group, Barcelona's rivals shortly understood that in the event that they harassed, hurried and pressed him, he would possible hand possession again or make an error.
Has Peña assimilated this expertise and benefited from it? Has he gone again and regarded on the tapes, realized from his errors and turn out to be a stronger, higher useful resource for his membership?
Remember, in Spanish soccer, the backup goalkeeper does not get to play for the B group. His solely work is in coaching; there may be little or no alternative to use the teachings realized from that extraordinarily bruising and bumpy spell when he was in pole place.
Flick and his quite a few employees are nonetheless very new to the membership — remember that. They have been in a position to see Peña in coaching since late July, that is true, however none of them have been first-hand witnesses to how he reacts below the highlight or shoulders the immense stress {that a} Barcelona aspect utilizing a really excessive line of defense locations on any goalkeeper.
Back to the requirement for Flick to supply some magic.
Can he, and his employees, mentor Peña and be sure that he competently sees them by way of to the subsequent switch window at the least? I'll declare my colors now: I do not assume a choice to stay with the No. 2 and continued trophy challenges are appropriate.
Were it not for these pesky FFP rules that, bear in mind, meant that Dani Olmo could not be registered for the primary half of the season as soon as he signed from RB Leipzig, then the membership would have introduced in a goalkeeper to make sure that this kind of scenario would by no means happen in the primary place. They have been just too financially restricted to even ponder that, although.
They set sail into the brand new Flick period with fingers, and every thing else, crossed that their German captain would not be injured. Now, lo and behold, catastrophe.
Flick has choices.
He has been extremely daring (and profitable) in how a lot religion to put place in a stream of younger gamers with no earlier affect on the primary group. So, may he attain into the youth ranks and choose somebody who vaults over Peña but helps preserve this run of video games in which Barcelona have received six out of six and scored 22 occasions in the method?
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The first possibility is 20-year-old Ander Astralaga, who, whereas he usually sits on the first-team bench, is, nonetheless, the Barcelona B goalkeeper. The Basque is patently proficient, assured and has racked up first rate expertise in the youth ranks, however he's a bit of impetuous and identified for nonetheless having a couple of too many errors in his sport.
Budapest-born Áron Yaakobishvili is rated behind Astralaga so should not, in principle, be able to supplant Peña. The Miami-born golden gloves of the youth system, 18-year-old Diego Kochen, who's one of the best of the lot, has a hamstring drawback that's scheduled to maintain him out for practically a month.
The guidelines on Barcelona buying a brand new goalkeeper, outdoors the switch market, are crystal clear — and solely reasonably useful. If Ter Stegen is medically licensed to be out for greater than 4 months, then Barcelona can be permitted to hunt a substitute, however there are strict parameters.
Any goalkeeper they select wouldn't solely need to be out of contract however not registered with any membership when the summer season switch market ended, that means that if a keeper who was sad at his current membership was all of a sudden launched from his contract, he wouldn't be eligible to right away play for Barcelona. Them's the foundations.
Nevertheless, there are candidates: Keylor Navas, Edgar Badia, Jordi Masip, Tomás Vaclík. This record brings us proper again to the need for Flick and his assistants to not solely produce a magical answer however to get issues proper, below stress, earlier than their exceptional momentum in LaLiga is upset.
The video games come thick and quick, towards Getafe on Wednesday, away to Osasuna this weekend after which a vital Champions League fixture towards Young Boys of Switzerland subsequent Tuesday. They need time to assume and breathe, however there isn't any time — besides time for a bit of bit of Flick magic.
