Barcelona go into their clash with Atletico Madrid with most of their squad available, but with two key absences in Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Lamine Yamal. Inaki Pena has stepped into the German’s shoes, but facing him on Saturday night (21:00 CEST) will be the current Zamora leader Jan Oblak. Former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Roberto Jimenez has cited Hansi Flick as crucial to Pena’s form.
The Masia product faced heavy criticism last season when filling in for the injured ter Stegen, yet made a number of crucial saves against Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and most recently Borussia Dortmund this time round.
Sitting down with Football España, Roberto explained the dynamics of the position mentally can be all or nothing. Retiring in 2022, Roberto spent two decades at the top level, coming through at Atletico Madrid, with spells at Benfica, Olympiakos and West Ham, before a final stop at Real Valladolid.
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The Spanish under-21 international has played for title contenders, clubs with European aspirations, and those in the thick of the relegation battle, but underlines that life is easier at the top end of the game for a goalkeeper, in spite of the pressure.
“Absolutely. If the club is better, the team is better, the players are better, the system is better, everything is better. Everything is there around you, and all these things help you more. When I was playing for teams that were fighting relegation, I had to do more, you face more shots, that’s normal. You lose a lot of games, but even so, as a goalkeeper, you have the chance to impress more.”
“But it’s much better to be Jan Oblak for example, who ends a lot of matches without touching the ball. It means you have good defenders, the team is organised, and even if you don’t have to pull off any big saves, the prize is for the whole team when you win 1-0 or 2-0.”
Oblak has brought up a decade in goal for Atletico now, and has remained one of the best in the world for the vast majority of that. On the opposing side is Pena, who has just 48 professional games to his name.
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Most would agree that Pena has been markedly better than last season though. The majority also thought Wojciech Szczesny would take over from Pena when he arrived out of retirment too, but Roberto called on his own experience to explain the 25-year-old’s improvement.
“The coach’s confidence is everything for me. I have performed much better when I have felt that confidence from the coach, and when I have felt that my coach is not convinced about my level, I’ve played much worse. It’s very important for Inaki Pena to feel that from Hansi Flick. And also from his teammates.
It’s not an easy situation to replace a player like Marc-Andre ter Stegen, at such a good club like Barcelona, with a lot of pressure on you.”
“I think he’s showing a lot of personality. He came in and he knew that there would be doubts about him. And game by game, people are getting used to seeing him in goal. The good news for you as a goalkeeper, is when nobody is talking about you. He’s doing well, game by game.”
La Liga’s top echelon has had an unusually involved second string of goalkeepers in the last two seasons, with Andriy Lunin and Pena featuring heavily. In the summer, Atletico also brought in Argentina international Juan Musso behind Oblak too.
Does that internal competition help or hinder though?
“Not every team needs competition in goal. If you have Courtois, if you have ter Stegen. I think they have enough personality about them to know that they are number one, but they have to push themselves every day to remain that. So they probably don’t need someone on the bench trying to play. If we’re honest about it, making that change is almost impossible.”
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“But it is true that a team needs a good second goalkeeper. Someone with a good personality, who behaves well, who is good with their teammates. A player that is willing to be part of the group, following the team mentality and supporting the number one.”
When did Roberto realise that in his own career? Not soon enough, he hinted with a wry smile.
“I enjoyed things much more when I was the number one and I felt like that (smiles). I suffered a lot when I had to recognise that I was the number two (laughs). I was not the kind of goalkeeper who was happy being the number two to be honest,” Roberto said with complete sincerity.