32-year-old German goalkeeper Ter Stegen might face long term hiatus

Barcelona suffered a heavy blow when they achieved a positive result against Villarreal. Marc-Andre ter Stegen was stretchered off the field and looked in pain, after suffering an injury to his right knee at the end of the first half. La Blaugrana won convincingly over their opponents in the 6th week of La Liga 2024/25 while playing at the Estadio de la Ceramica, on Sunday(22nd September) and they won 5-1.

The 32-year-old German goalkeeper Ter Stegen fought hard in a very entertaining match by facing a total of 30 attempts from Villarreal players, 14 of which were on target. The current table toppers Barca maintained their perfect start in La Liga by winning their sixth straight victory, but the victory was marred by the possibility of an injury to their ace goalkeeper.

Ter Stegen fell quite badly after jumping to grab the ball before half-time and looked in pain when he was stretchered off the field. He was then replaced by Inaki Pena in the second half, with the goalkeeper unable to hold back tears. The goalkeeper had previously experienced problems with the same knee three years ago when he had to undergo two operations due to a patellar tendon injury.

After the match, Flick confirmed that Ter Stegen was suffering from a serious injury. However, the German coach will continue to monitor the player's condition and is reluctant to talk about finding a replacement. "It looks like a serious injury, he feels it, you can see it on the pitch," said Flick. "I don't like these questions after the match. First of all, we have to see what happens with Marc, he is our captain."

According to a report from Diario AS, there has been an update on the goalkeeper's fitness. According to the report, Ter Stegen's season may be over following a serious injury he suffered in the match against Villarreal and the initial examination results on the goalkeeper's injury were very negative and he was immediately taken to hospital.

If the worst-case scenario is confirmed, Ter Stegen could be out for seven to nine months due to injury, which could be a major blow for Barcelona.