25-year-old Barcelona player left confused following Hansi Flick’s change of heart – Report | OneFootball

The goalkeeping dilemma at FC Barcelona is one that has been intensified since Wojciech Szczesny’s arrival. Previously, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was the undisputed starter, and Inaki Pena mainly just stayed as a back-up option for the German goalkeeper. Now, however, the entire landscape of the situation has changed at Barcelona.

Following Ter Stegen’s untimely injury, Polish goalkeeper Szczesny was brought out of retirement and put straight back into top flight football. Now, with both the Polish shot-stopper and Inaki Pena fighting for minutes, Hansi Flick had to make a big decision.

Initially, he ended up choosing Pena as his preferred choice in goal and even confirmed his stance on keeping him as the starter. At the time, everything seemed to be going well for the Spaniard, and even Szczesny himself did not have too many complaints about the matter either.

Now, however, it seems that things have changed altogether. With the Pole now having become somewhat of a regular starter, he is now competing across every single competition while Pena has been demoted to the bench. This decision, according to SPORT, has left the Spaniard mentally affected.

That is because, at least on a sporting level, the player has been confused by Flick’s justification. Rather than providing a performance-based reasoning, the German coach simply stated that the team won whenever Szczesny played, and the report claims that the answer leaned more towards superstition rather than a performance-related concern.

The Spaniard himself is aware of the fact that there are no complaints about him on a sporting level at Barcelona. He continues to deliver solid performances and has been Barça’s goalkeeper in some of the season’s most impressive victories as well. However, after the game against Valencia, Flick even acknowledged that he understood the difficulty of the situation for Pena as well:

“It’s not the best situation for Inaki Pena, but it’s part of football.”

Ironically, however, the Polish goalkeeper has shown himself to be susceptible to making unnecessary errors in games. While this was something that Pena was told to avoid altogether, Wojciech Szczesny seems to be getting away with them altogether.

At the same time, however, the Pole has his own redeeming qualities as well. His experience may be something that the Barcelona coach values a lot, as well as his shot-stopping ability itself. However, Pena remains determined to win his place back, and rather than complaining about the situation or asking for a justification, he is committed to working hard and regaining Flick’s trust.