Marc-Andre ter Stegen injury: Hansi Flick gives “very sad” update

Marc-Andre ter Stegen injury overshadowed Barcelona’s impressive start to the La Liga season as Hansi Flick‘s side win convincingly against Villarreal.

Despite losing to Monaco during the week in their Champions League clash, Barcelona returned to winning ways by dismantling Villarreal 5-1. However, Ter Stegen suffered a bad injury at the end of the first half.

The Germany international landed on his knee. Ter Stegen was in agony as he lay on the ground before being stretchered off, and the early indications were that the 32-year-old had picked up a severe problem that could sideline him for months.

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has now admitted that the injury to Ter Stegen looks “serious”.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen lies injured on the pitch during the LaLiga match between Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona (Photo by Omar Arnau/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

Flick was immediately asked about the German’s condition after the game, and he conceded that his goalkeeper’s injury was severe, although he refused to put a timeframe on his recovery.

“It doesn’t look good for Marc. We have to wait to know the full diagnosis of the injury, but it’s true it does appear to be really serious,” the former Bayern Munich manager told Spanish TV.

Flick was then asked in his post-game press conference how he can go about replacing his number one, although he shot down the question and insisted that he was not in a mood to answer it so soon after the incident.

“I don’t like this question right after the game. First we have to see what happens with Marc, he’s our captain. I’m very sad about what happened. Please understand that I don’t want to answer this question. I haven’t been able to speak to Ter Stegen,” Flick added.

Barcelona will be expected to confirm the diagnosis once more tests have been run. However, report from ESPN claim that Ter Stegen’s problem might be serious enough to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Barcelona’s number two goalkeeper Inaki Pena will play in goal until Ter Stergen recovers.

Pena came through Barcelona’s La Masia network but has only made 22 appearances for the senior side in all tournaments, having been in Ter Stegen’s shadow ever since breaking into the first-team ranks.

Barcelona remain top of the table with six wins from their opening six games and are next in action at home to Getafe on Wednesday evening.