Talking with Ter Stegen: Barca's clean sheet king on Xavi, leadership and not watching football (2024)

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Friday, 5pm. Xavi had scheduled a late training session two days before travelling to play Villarreal, but it was also time for media duties.

As we walked towards Barcelona’s sporting complex in the Sant Joan Despi district of the city, teenage midfielder Pablo Tore was making his way into the private parking lot, driving past the dozens of fans who, on a daily basis, stand by the gates waiting for players to take a picture with them, or sign their T-shirts.

The Athletic was there to meet Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Arguably the best goalkeeper in La Liga right now, he holds the best record in Europe’s top five leagues, with seven goals conceded and 16 clean sheets from 21 games this season. He’s let in only four goals from open play.

His impact has not just been felt on the pitch but in the dressing room, too.

The 30-year-old German became the team’s third vice-captain when Gerard Pique retired in the autumn and is enjoying his new status in what is his ninth season at Camp Nou. He’s helping to lead the exciting young generation coming through at Barcelona, especially now, with big games on the horizon. Manchester United visit on Thursday for the first leg of a Europa League play-off tie between two of the continent’s most in-form teams.

However, don’t be surprised if Ter Stegen is not aware of every detail behind Erik ten Hag’s transformation of United over the past few months, even if he does know how much they have improved.

“I’m not a crazy football-watcher,” he says. “Of course, I know who we’re playing. Since the new coach was there, they made many changes.

“But I want to focus on my free time, recovery and seeing the games that are actually important for us. I watch the games that have a value for me — to see how the team plays that we are facing on Wednesday or Sunday. This is where my priorities are. I don’t have a weekend full of football.”

We spoke in a small interview space, next to the big media room where Xavi will be holding court for the pre-match press conference on Wednesday. Ter Stegen was kind, smiling and flanked by two members of the club’s press-office staff. He took the time to shake hands with every person before sitting down and explaining just how much has changed at Barcelona.

“Now we have a project and we are working on it to make it really work and let it be successful,” he says.

“The energy we get from outside, and the signings we made, have an impact on the team and the way people see us from the outside. We’re more attractive. People really enjoy seeing us play, because we are playing good football, and even if we don’t win a game there is a lot of passion from the fans and also from the team.

“That is connecting us right now, and that is why we are so strong at home. We are in the process of growing again and I think the people should enjoy it.”

Barcelona’s most recent defeat was before the World Cup, in late October (against Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stage). They’ve won their past 11 matches in all competitions and are 11 points clear at the top of La Liga — although second-placed Real Madrid play their game in hand, at home against last-placed Elche, on Wednesday.

Ter Stegen does not hesitate in identifying the key figure behind this excellent run of form: Xavi. He and the manager were team-mates in 2014-2015, the German’s debut campaign after joining from Borussia Monchengladbach. This is the Spaniard’s first full season in charge of the side he once graced as among the game’s great modern-day midfielders.

“You have to understand what he wants but it is always easier if you already knew him,” Ter Stegen says. “He came and had a plan he wanted to complete as fast as possible. It probably took him a bit longer than he expected, but now you are seeing the results, step by step. You see we are playing better, we have a better idea of what to do on the field, and what he expects us to do.

“Many things have changed since he arrived; probably also mentality, the way we defend. Everything got a different focus. I wouldn’t say that before was worse or better, just that focus shifted a bit and right now we are in a good moment. We are deciding games. We know how to suffer as well, in complicated moments, and I think that makes us very strong.”

This is a refreshed version of Ter Stegen. He sounds joyous, full of desire, relishing what’s to come. It’s a very different picture of the goalkeeper we saw only a few years ago.

In October 2019, after labouring to a Champions League group-stage win away to Slavia Prague, he did not hold back in his criticism of the team, identifying “quite a few” things that had to improve. That season ended with Barcelona hitting rock-bottom in their 8-2 quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich.

Six of the starters that dismal night in Lisbon — Nelson Semedo, Clement Lenglet, Pique, Arturo Vidal, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi — are no longer at the club. Times have changed.

“Well, I think the locker room always has to change,” Ter Stegen says.

“When I came, I found a team ready, assembled. It was just there. But you don’t assemble a whole team in a day or two. You fill some positions, everyone adapts to the system and, eventually, you have a good team. Now we have to construct a new project and we have to get back to what we had in 2015. We need to have a stable base, and then from there we can make changes around it. That’s what we did in the beginning when I came.

“When you have these foundations, then you can impact the team by adding certain players for what you need.”

Ter Stegen isn’t the only new leader at Barcelona. He also highlights the name of defender Ronald Araujo — “he was injured in the crucial Champions League games we lost and we felt it, he is one of the players that made a step up when Gerard (Pique) retired” — and of course, summer signing Robert Lewandowski up front.

“Lewy has just arrived but since day one you had the feeling he was very present,” he says of the Poland striker, who has scored 14 La Liga goals and provided five assists in 18 matches following his move from Bayern Munich.

“There’s also the topic of the language, and I think he did great on this. He was really interested in the language and that makes a big difference. Now he is able to talk to the younger players and, of course, if Lewandowski talks to you as a younger player, you will listen. You should listen!”

Last summer, Ter Stegen was far away from the happiness he shows now.

Like the rest of the Barcelona team, the goalkeeper hadn’t been through a great season. His performances were below par as they finished second in La Liga, but a distant 13 points behind arch-rivals Real Madrid. Ter Stegen conceded 34 goals in 35 league matches, keeping only 11 clean sheets.

At the end of the campaign, he was due to join up with Germany’s national team to play four Nations League group games, but he just felt it was too much for him. After a chat with manager Hansi Flick, they both decided he would benefit from withdrawing from the squad in order to have a whole summer switched off from football.

“It was very important,” Ter Stegen says. “I had three years without being able to rest and it has an impact; mentally, physically, in many ways.

“In the end, I am happy that the coaches of the national team and Barcelona understood the situation and supported me to say, ‘Hey, look, it’s good to have a break sometimes’. I think it was the right decision, at the right moment. This is difficult to find.

“You have to be aware of the situation of every individual because, in the end, everyone has a different structure in their game. It’s just about the workloads and how you manage them. He (Xavi) is doing great on this because lately we have not had many injuries. This is what it is about, especially knowing that we have three or four really intense months ahead of us.”

This is how Barcelona have recovered the prime version of their first-choice goalkeeper to get, according to Xavi, “the best one we can have for this role for the way we want to play”.

And this is also how Ter Stegen has gone from a jaded figure in a dejected dressing room, to a proud leader of the club’s new generation.

(Top photo: Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

The Athletic’s Spanish football coverage has expanded…

• La Liga news, La Liga table; La Liga fixtures and results
• Dermot Corrigan is joined by four new writers…
• Real Madrid news from Mario Cortegana and GuillermoRai
• Barcelona news from Pol Ballús and Laia Cervelló Herrero

Pol joined The Athletic in 2021, initially moving to Manchester to assist us with our Manchester City, Manchester United and Spanish reporting. Since 2015 he has been an English football correspondent for multiple Spanish media, such as Diario Sport and RAC1 radio station. He has also worked for The Times. In 2019, he co-wrote the book Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam. He will now move back to Spain, covering FC Barcelona for The Athletic. Follow Pol on Twitter @polballus