Marc-André ter Stegen
Marc-André ter Stegen (German
pronunciation: [ˌmaɐ̯k ʔanˈdʁeː teːɐ̯ ˈsteːɡn̩; - ʔãˈd-]; born 30 April 1992)
is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish
club Barcelona and the Germany national team.
After four seasons in the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach, making 108 league
appearances, he joined Barcelona for €12 million in 2014. He won the treble in his first season
in Spain, playing for Barcelona in Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League.
Ter Stegen represented Germany at several
youth levels and made his senior international debut in 2012. He was part of
the German squads that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 and won the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and was also a member
of the German side that took part at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Borussia
Mönchengladbach
2010–11
season
Born in Mönchengladbach,
Ter Stegen began his career at hometown team Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the first half of
the 2010–11 season, he established himself as the star of their reserve team and was frequently
seen on the first-team bench. Whilst he was enjoying a relatively successful
season, the same could not be said for his first-team colleagues. Mönchengladbach's
senior side were seemingly failing in their efforts to avoid relegation, and on 14 February
2011, manager Michael Frontzeck was replaced
by Lucien
Favre,
with the team rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga, having accumulated only
16 points after 22 match days.
The team’s results soon improved, but the
erratic form of first-choice goalkeeper Logan Bailly held the team back.
Whilst he was able to produce match-winning performances such as the one
against Werder Bremen,
these were few and far between, and were frequently cancelled out by uninspiring
matches. The fans of Mönchengladbach were quick to discredit the Belgian
international, with some accusing him of putting more effort into his modelling
career than his football. Ter Stegen's progress for the reserve team had not
gone unnoticed by the supporters, and the new manager was inundated with
demands to start the young prodigy in the league. Favre eventually lost
patience with Bailly, and on 10 April 2011, relegated him to the bench in
favour of Ter Stegen for the match against 1. FC Köln. The young German did
not disappoint, and the defence boasted a previously unseen solidity. He kept
his place in the team for the remainder of the season, keeping four clean-sheets out of a possible
five in the last five matchdays as Mönchengladbach avoided relegation via the
playoffs. During this run, he shot to prominence with a last-man-standing
display against eventual champions Borussia Dortmund, making a string of
world-class saves as Mönchengladbach secured a famous 1–0 victory.
2011–12
season
Ter Stegen with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2011
Ter Stegen's status as first-choice
goalkeeper was cemented when Bailly was sent on loan to Swiss side Neuchâtel
Xamax and
the no.1 shirt was delegated to Ter Stegen, who had previously worn 21.
During the summer transfer window, Bayern Munich had succeeded in
their drawn-out pursuit of Schalke 04's captain Manuel Neuer. The German
international made his debut against Ter Stegen's Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena. The match did not go
the way the pundits predicted, however, with Ter Stegen producing yet another
inspired display whilst his counterpart Neuer made the error that condemned
Bayern to a 1–0 defeat. Following this match, Borussia Mönchengladbach embarked
on an unlikely title challenge, with Ter Stegen and fellow youngster Marco Reus providing the
inspiration for Mönchengladbach.
2012–13
season
After the departures of Reus to Borussia
Dortmund and Dante to Bayern Munich, Ter Stegen emerged
as Mönchengladbach's main star for the season. He was again first-choice, and
in February 2013, it was reported that Ter Stegen signed a pre-agreement
with La Liga club Barcelona. The deal was later denied
by himself.
2013–14
season
After being strongly linked to Barcelona, Ter Stegen remained at
Mönchengladbach for the new season. On 6 January 2014, he rejected a new deal
from the club, raising the
speculation over his future. In the last home match of the season, a 3–1 home
success against Mainz 05 on 5 May, Ter
Stegen sent a tearful goodbye to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen warming up
for Barcelona in 2014
2014–15
season
On 19 May 2014, Ter Stegen was announced as
the new goalkeeper of Spanish club Barcelona, after the departures of Víctor
Valdés and José Manuel Pinto, effective during the
summer transfer window. On 22 May 2014, he
signed a five-year contract that would keep him at the club until June 2019.
The transfer fee was €12 million (£9.7 million), and the buy-out
clause was set to €80 million (£63.6 million). After the move, Ter
Stegen said joining the club was the right move and that he aimed to settle at
the club.
Ter Stegen would suffer an injury prior to
the first league match of the season. Due to this injury,
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique made Claudio Bravo the starting league
goalkeeper, where he would go on to win the Zamora Trophy. Ter Stegen,
however, was made the first-choice goalkeeper in both the Copa del Rey and in the UEFA Champions League. He made his debut in
the latter tournament on 17 September, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 home win
over APOEL. He helped Barcelona
win the final of the domestic cup
in his first season, a 3–1 victory against Athletic Bilbao on 30 May 2015. A week later, he
played in the Champions League Final at the Olympiastadion in
Berlin, a 3–1 win over Juventus. Nonetheless, he did
not play at all in the team's victorious
league campaign. But he made significant contributions in the Copa del Rey and in the UEFA Champions League. He won the
"Best Save" award for his spectacular "goal-line" save
vs Bayern Munich, in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final.
2015–16
season
His second season opened with victory in
the 2015 UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla FC in Tbilisi on 11 August.
Having led 4–1, he then conceded three more goals to send the match into extra
time, in which Barcelona won 5–4. He made his La Liga debut on 12
September 2015 in a match against Atlético Madrid,
which Barcelona won 2–1.
In March 2016, Ter Stegen said on the
subject of Luis Enrique's rotation policy: "In the long run, these 25
games per season are not enough for me. The decision is made by the coach. I
hope that the quality I've shown recently is rewarded."
2016–17
season
Ter Stegen picked up injuries at the start
of the season, due to which he missed the Supercopa de
España and league matches. He became Barcelona's first-choice
goalkeeper after Claudio Bravo left for Manchester City on 25 August 2016. On 13 September
2016, Ter Stegen gave away and saved a penalty from Moussa Dembélé which kept the
score at 1–0 and which eventually led to a 7–0 victory for Barcelona
against Celtic in the UEFA Champions League. On 2 October 2016,
Ter Stegen had a poor performance when he made two crucial mistakes, which cost
Barcelona the match, as they eventually went on to lose 4–3 against Celta de Vigo. He later apologised
and said that he would not change his playing style. He later received
good reviews for his role in Barcelona 6–1 Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions
League for receiving a crucial foul from Marco Verratti in the opposition half
– which led to the crucial 94th-minute winner that kept Barcelona in the hunt
for the Champions League. As a result, Barcelona qualified for the
quarterfinals of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. Ter Stegen proved
to be even more decisive in the second league Clásico that year by producing a
staggering 12 saves in a victory against rivals Real Madrid, which kept Barcelona
alive in the race for La Liga while being three points adrift of Real Madrid.
2017–18
season
On 29 May 2017, Ter Stegen signed a new
contract with Barcelona, keeping him at the club until 2022, with his buyout
clause raised to €180 million.
On 14 October 2017, Ter Stegen made some
critical saves, including two well-placed shots from Antoine Griezmann of Atlético Madrid,
en route to a 1–1 draw at the new Wanda Metropolitano stadium, preserving
Barcelona's unbeaten record in the 2017–18
La Liga season. On 28 October 2017,
Ter Stegen produced a phenomenal display against Athletic Club in an eventual 2–0
win for Barcelona, denying Aritz Aduriz from a one-on-one position
and producing a brilliant diving effort from the same opponent with five
minutes remaining on the clock. As of 20 November
2017, Ter Stegen, assisted by the guidance of manager Ernesto Valverde, along with the good
form of teammate Samuel Umtiti, was responsible for
Barcelona having the fewest goals conceded of any club in Europe's top five
leagues, with just four conceded. On 22 November
2017, Ter Stegen saved a 90th minute shot from Paulo Dybala of Juventus, which
was similar to a shot he had scored against Ter Stegen in the previous year's
Champions League. The result was good
enough to secure a draw and a first place position in Group D, qualifying
Barcelona to the 2017–18 UEFA Champions
League knockout phase. At this point, Ter Stegen had saved 23 of
his last 24 shots on target for a 96 percent save percentage.
Ter Stegen started for Barcelona in
the 2018 Supercopa de España, in which the club
defeated Sevilla 2–1 to win the title with Ter Stegen making a late penalty
save to secure the victory.
2019–20
season
On 28 September 2019, Ter Stegen provided
an assist to Luis Suárez for the first goal
in a 2–0 away win over Getafe, becoming the first
Barcelona goalkeeper to provide an assist in La Liga in the 21st Century. On 6 October, Ter Stegen
marked his 200th game for Barça with a clean sheet in a 4–0
home win against Sevilla. He provided another
assist on 7 December to Antoine Griezmann for the first goal
in a 5-2 home victory vs RCD Mallorca.
International career
In 2009, he participated on the winning
team of the UEFA European Under-17
Championship.
Ter Stegen was rewarded for his
performances by Joachim Löw, who called him up
to Germany's provisional squad
for UEFA
Euro 2012.
He made his debut on 26 May 2012, in the 5–3 loss against Switzerland in a friendly match, but did not make the
final cut for the tournament. He stopped a penalty from Lionel Messi in his second
international match in a 1–3 loss against Argentina on 15 August,
immediately after coming on following Ron-Robert Zieler's sending off.
On 27 June 2015, he conceded five goals
in Germany U21s' match against Portugal U21 in the semi-finals
of the UEFA European Under-21
Championship in
Czech Republic.
Ter Stegen was included in Germany's UEFA Euro 2016 squad, but remained on the
bench throughout the entire tournament, as a back-up to starter Manuel Neuer;
Germany reached the semi-finals, and were eliminated following a 2–0 loss to
hosts France.
At the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Ter Stegen started in
all of his team's matches, apart from the first group-stage match, as Germany
went on to win the tournament. For his performance in the final, against Chile, he was named the Man
of the Match.
On 15 May 2018, Ter Stegen was included
in Germany's 27-man squad for
the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Germany's manager
Joachim Löw included Ter Stegen in Germany's final 23-man squad for the World
Cup on 4 June 2018.
In September 2019, Ter Stegen engaged in a
minor war of words with Manuel Neuer over the number one goalkeeper spot for
Germany.
Style of play
Ter Stegen has been described as a tall,
agile and consistent goalkeeper, with quick reflexes, good decision-making and
excellent shot-stopping abilities between the posts; he is also strong in the
air, good in one-on-one situations, and effective at communicating with his
back-line courtesy of his strong personality. Due to his ability to read the
game and speed when rushing off his line, he is able to anticipate opponents
outside the area who have beaten the offside trap. Being highly competent with
the ball at his feet, he is known for his control and accurate distribution of
the ball, and often functions as a sweeper-keeper, due to his ability to
play the ball out from the back. Moreover, he
possesses good fundamental goalkeeping technique, and a strong positional
sense. Regarded as a
highly promising player in his youth, he has since
established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in world football.
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