Coach Hansi Flick performed another football magic trick in Barcelona's 5-1 victory over Villarreal in round 6 of La Liga. However, like all good magicians, it was time for him to turn the cloak, look straight into the eyes of the audience and declare: "this is my next surgery".
Flick helped Barcelona have another destructive performance that they were fully capable of scoring 3 or 4 more goals if they took advantage of the opportunity. It is even more surprising to know that the three young players in the Barcelona squad, Gerard Martin, Pablo Torre and Sergi Dominguez, have only started once or twice in La Liga. Barcelona overcame the injury crisis and fatigue after losing to AS Monaco in the Champions League to defeat Villarreal.
In just a short time since joining, Flick has put his faith in a series of young and inexperienced players from La Masia. He still knows how to create eye-catching winning football, despite many problems. Therefore, some fans have compared Flick to " David Copperfield of Barcelona".
And in the coming time, perhaps Flick will need to create more surgery due to the serious injury of No. 1 goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper made a series of miraculous saves to stop Villarreal before collapsing in pain after a dangerous ground clearance situation.
Barca reported that the 32-year-old had a "complete tear" of the cake tendon in his right knee. The German international will be out for several months and is likely to miss the rest of the season.
The problem with reserve goalkeeper Inaki Pena is simply not good enough to help Barcelona maintain their record. Moreover, they also need a solid foundation to go far in the Champions League arena. This is a must if the Blaugrana do not want to continue to fall into the financial spiral that has plagued them for many years.
Pena is, by modern standards, a relatively small goalkeeper. His strengths are agility and the ability to save losses in the old way. Meanwhile, Pena's most obvious weakness is his ability to distribute the ball with his feet. In fact, Pena had a time to replace the injured Stegen last season and showed a relatively disappointing performance.
However, Barca also faces many obstacles if they want to buy a new goalkeeper. If Stegen is medically certified to be out of action for more than 4 months, Barcelona will be allowed to find a replacement, but there are strict requirements.
That goalkeeper not only had to expire his contract but was also not registered with any club when the 2024 summer transfer window ended. This means that if a goalkeeper is unhappy with his current club and his contract is suddenly terminated, this player is still not eligible to play immediately for Barcelona.
However, there are still good options for Flick such as Keylor Navas, Edgar Badia, Jordi Masip or Tomas Vaclik. The upcoming schedule of Blaugrana is extremely tight. They need time to think and hope Flick will come up with a miracle solution, but Real Madrid or their opponents in the Champions League will not wait long...
