Despite FC Barcelona’s impressive 3-0 win over Deportivo Alaves in La Liga last night, not everyone came out of the game smelling like roses. It might sound weird to say it on a day that the team kept a clean sheet but Inaki Pena had an awful display.
Last night’s game at the Mendizorrotza Stadium was expected to be the 25-year-old’s final chance to show Hansi Flick that he deserved to retain his spot in between the sticks. However, his performance did little to inspire confidence.
Barcelona have already registered their emergency signing Wojciech Szczesny for La Liga and he should be ready to take the field when club football resumes after the international break. It would come as no surprise if he starts for Barcelona ahead of Pena against Sevilla.
As per SPORT, Inaki Pena has been under immense pressure since the arrival of the veteran Polish shot-stopper and it is reflecting in his displays on the field. The 25-year-old is not confident in his actions and portrays a very tentative outlook.
The Spanish shot-stopper had good intentions last night but his execution left a lot to be desired. He conceded two goals last night, one of which he should have stopped 11 out of 10 times but was saved of his blushes by a well-held offside trap.
He made one good save throughout the game but that isn’t enough to convince Hansi Flick that he needs to be first-choice going forward. The most worrying aspect of his game is his desire to keep sweeper-keeping despite looking very uncomfortable at it.
Szczesny is a world-class keeper. He might be coming out of retirement but it hasn’t been long since he last played professional football. The Polish veteran would surely look more assured in goal than Pena does, at least at the moment.
With games like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on the horizon, one would put his money on Flick starting the ex-Juventus shot-stopper against Sevilla to build him up to those big games. This begs the question as to what the future is for Pena and let’s see how the German coach handles it.
