With Sergi Roberto not starting, Marc Andre Ter Stegen captained FC Barcelona in last night’s match against Porto. The Catalans under the leadership of Ter Stegen were able to come out of this match with a thin victory, as they beat the Portuguese club with a single goal scored by Ferran Torres right at the cusp of half-time.
While this victory is very important for Barcelona in their quest to advance to the knock-out rounds of the Champions League, the display put on by the Catalans was not as brilliant as Ter Stegen would have liked. This was made clear by his post-match comments, which have been reported by SPORT.
Important three points but improvements needed
Ter Stegen was thankful for the victory and believed the three points obtained were the most important part of this match, but he still wanted his team to improve in some areas:
“Yes, it has been a hard-fought victory, but in the end, what matters is that we take three points away from home and take another step toward our goal, which is to win every game and collect all 18 points. Sometimes, you have to endure, not play so well, and still win. We need to improve certain aspects, and this is the way forward.”
Ghosts of the past
Before the match, Xavi had referred to Barcelona’s poor performance in the last few editions of the Champions League and the psychological effect of these painful memories on the team. Ter Stegen also touched upon this subject and asked his team not to take extra pressure from the club’s past:
“We need to put aside the ghosts; there’s no need to put pressure on ourselves. We focus on our task; we have a different team now. We played a more or less good match, especially in defense, although we had some lapses towards the end.”
With this match, Barcelona won the toughest match in their group stage on paper. The qualification to the next round seems highly plausible now, but Ter Stegen and his team will still have to give their all in the upcoming matches to help Barcelona finish at the top of the group and thus get a favorable tie in the round of sixteen.
