Goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen had a week to forget. After his mistake that led to teammate Eric Garcia’s red card in the 1-2 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League, Barcelona ‘s starting goalkeeper will miss most of the 2024/25 season, due to an injury sustained in the 5-1 win over Villarreal.

Ter Stegen was carried off the pitch on a stretcher after suffering a knee injury in the first half. He jumped to catch a high ball during a Villarreal corner, but landed poorly, forcing his teammates to immediately signal for a doctor to come on the pitch.

The German goalkeeper was then taken to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a long-term injury. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was unable to give a specific recovery time, but sources in Catalunya said Ter Stegen needed eight months to recover.

Ter Stegen joins a long list of injured players at Barcelona, ​​including Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal, Frenkie De Jong, Gavi, Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo. Flick has relied on youngsters like Sergi Dominguez, Pablo Torre and Gerard Martin to replace the injured players. Despite the depleted squad, Barca have still won all six of their opening matches to top the group.

Inaki Pena is expected to be the starting goalkeeper in Ter Stegen’s absence, but his quality has left Barca fans frowning. The club still have three U20 goalkeepers to try out, including Diego Kochen (18) from the US, Ander Astralaga (20), a former Spain U19 international, and Áron Yaakobishvili (18) from Hungary.