Barcelona fitness coach Julio Tous has been chatting about the team’s season and Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s recovery from a serious knee injury.
Ter Stegen was injured in September and underwent surgery but made himself available again before the end of the campaign.
It’s thought the [German was keen to play in Barcelona’s Champions League semi-final](https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2025/6/7/24444809/conflict-between-barcelona-and-marc-andre-ter-stegen-led-hansi-flicks-side-to-joan-garcia-report) against Inter, but Hansi Flick kept faith with Wojciech Szczęsny instead.
Tous has lifted the lid a little on the decision-making process that took place after Ter Stegen was fit again.
> “Let’s see, this is the same as always. When you have a first-choice player who has been out for so long, everyone wants him to come back soon, and most importantly, so does he,” he told Flash Score.
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> “Of course, you try to force as much as you can. So, at that level, what I also understand has happened this year is that there was suddenly a goalkeeper who had consolidated his position, and then there was the first-choice player who wanted to come back.
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> “And of course, the timing was very tight. And in the end, the decision made by the coach, which is his decision, is taken, and all the staff behind him do what they have to do which is to show the necessary data to support or not.”
Tous also pointed out how it’s more difficult to reintegrate a goalkeeper than an outfield player as they are not generally used as substitutes apart from when injuries ocur.
> “This is a case, maybe a goalkeeper is not going to be changed, but with an outfield player it is more usual to say to the coach: ‘I wouldn’t put him in for more than 30 minutes or I would put him right at the end, that’s where he can make the most difference, he is ready for that, but not for more time,” he said.
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> “Or you start him and then change him in the second half. You give him those kinds of instructions and then the coach decides, obviously, because the ultimate decision is his. But with a goalkeeper, it’s perhaps the most delicate thing.
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> “And of course, this year there was also the circumstance that Szczesny, when he came on as the starting goalkeeper, the team, as the coach said, hadn’t lost. So there was no reason to change him.”
Tous went on to say it was a “very delicate decision” but feels that “it was quite logical” to stick with Szczesny.
Yet [Ter Stegen’s future at Barcelona now appears in serious doubt](https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2025/6/11/24447354/joan-garcia-set-for-huge-salary-increase-by-swapping-espanyol-for-barcelona). Barcelona are expected to sign Joan Garcia imminently and may then tell Ter Stegen he is not part of their plans for the new campaign.