Inaki Pena opens up about his performance against Barcelona

Barcelona might be having some problems with their team for a few seasons now however, there were a few players in the Bartomeu era who were considered as untouchables. Players like Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Ansu Fati were going to stay at the club no matter what and the previous president made it clear that these players were not for sale. However, with the new president, Joan Laporta, no player is given any bias and it is all performance-based. Ter Stegen, their first team keeper, has been in the first team for a long time without any competition however, Inaki Pena’s performance against Barca showed the team where they were going wrong.

Pena is a La Masia graduate who was playing for the B team for a while before being upgraded to the main team. However, with the likes of Ter Stegen and Neto already in front of him, there was absolutely no chance for him to get any game time. Thus, the youngster decided to move to Galatasaray on a loan deal and as luck would have it, he ended up facing his parent team in the Europa League. He played a big part in the 0-0 draw against Barca and after the match he said,

"“(I’m) very happy for the game, with the team and for my personal level,”“I am happy with the performance. I needed minutes and I am happy to have them here.“I am concentrated on Galatasaray, though I know that I have a contract with Barca and on June 30 I have to return.“We were very good as a team. Tonight our goal was to carry our chances into the return leg. We will see what happens in İstanbul. The Barcelona supporters applauded me before the game and that was a great moment for me. I would like to thank them.”Source Mundo Deportivo"

The Catalans were thinking about bringing in a new keeper to give some competition to Ter Stegen and since Neto will most probably be sold or will leave the club at the end of the season, Barca did make a list of options. However, after seeing Pena’s brilliant performance, it begs us to ask this question, do we really need another goalkeeper?

Pena will be returning next season and he is more than capable to give some competition to Ter Stegen. The youngster could go on to be the face of Barca but for that, he will need to dethrone the German from his number one spot.