"There is no doubt that these three will "steal" the front pages of all the major sports newspapers again, where they will announce another great team achievement - reaching the Champions League final in Berlin," said football analyst, journalist and writer Graham Hunter after the semi-final matches between "Barcelona" and "Bayern". "Those three", of course, are Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez, who, in the matches in Barcelona and Munich, made every effort to ensure that "Bayern" would comfortably watch the Champions League final from soft armchairs. But scoring goals is one thing, and ensuring that those goals are not conceded or conceded as little as possible is a completely different matter, according to G. Hunter, who does not hide it: "Barcelona" is traveling to Munich because they have Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Last summer, the young German, who came from Mönchengladbach's "Borussia", was immediately hailed by many analysts as a "promising second number", as in the Spanish championship Barcelona's goalkeeping duties are entrusted to the much more experienced goalkeeper of the Chilean national team Claudio Bravo. However, reality turned out to be completely different. It is no secret that Luis Enrique, who became the coach of "Barcelona", initially wanted a goalkeeper who saw everything, as Victor Valdes left the club. Thus, the C. Bravo, purchased from Real Sociedad in San Sebastian, was brought in as the goalkeeper for the Catalan team. The former sports director of "Barcelona", Andoni Zubizarreta, had already spotted the promising M.-A. ter Stegen on the market one and a half years ago. And this is where a great opportunity arose to reconcile both interests. V. Valdes himself refused to sign a new contract with "Barcelona", and Jose Manuel Pinto's contract was not renewed by the club initiative. How to divide time between two goalkeepers was, of course, entrusted to the head coach, who made a wise decision: in the Spanish "Primera" - C. Bravo, in the cup matches - M.-A. ter Stegen on "headache" duty. And the German coped with his task, as did C. Bravo. "The Munich team had enough opportunities before the break to prevent 'Barca' from going to Berlin," wrote G. Hunter. "And this is where Marc-Andre steps into the scene. I know him very little. We have spoken maybe four or five times. Sometimes without tension, sometimes after the matches." "His debut was not very successful. In the group match against 'Paris Saint-Germain', Marc conceded three goals, but then things began to improve noticeably. After the match with 'Manchester City', when he saved a penalty kick, it was clear that his work ethic and talent far exceed the years listed in his biography. It is his debut season, and that night he played in the Champions League semi-final match against his idol Manuel Neuer. M.-A. ter Stegen is not better than M. Neuer, but when the latter's team played better than 'Barcelona', it was the Catalan goalkeeper who did everything to keep the Bavarians off the ice," the analyst claims. According to G. Hunerio, the particularly dangerous head strike of Bastian Schweinsteiger and the attack by Roberto Lewandowski, which M.-A. ter Stegen miraculously managed to stop by reaching out his hand and then pushing the ball away from the goal line with reflexes of a cobra, were the most important moments when 'Barca' might have risked losing what was won in the first match. "When 'Barcelona' allowed themselves to relax, the only German remained fully focused till the end. Yes, he was defeated three times in those matches, and the Bavarians started bombarding the opponents, and do not believe if anyone tells you otherwise. When Pep Guardiola's team actually threatened 'Barca's' goal and tried to complicate the situation of the Catalans to the maximum, it was M.-A. ter Stegen who found answers to all the questions posed by the opponents," praised the newcomer of the Catalan club G. Hunter.
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