When in the future historians have to recapitulate the recent history of Barça, they will surely dedicate an entire chapter to everything they did last Wednesday. The controversial decision of the CSD granting the precautionary measure to Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, the controversial and angry reaction of an upset Laporta in the box and, on the green, the Barça victory against Athletic that qualified them for the final of the Super Cup. A duel that also puts Hansi Flick in an unexpected situation for the next matches, starting with the final, reopening the debate in the goal wide open.
After winning the semi-final, the Barça squad trained separately yesterday afternoon. The substitutes did so behind closed doors in one of the fields attached to the imposing Al Jawhara stadium, in the heart of the King Abdullah sports city in Jeddah. The starters recovered in one of the huge rooms of their concentration hotel. Thus began the path for Flick to begin to tease out which goalkeeper will start in Sunday’s final.
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The German assured in the press room that Szczesny’s ownership was due to a “technical” decision, perhaps not to reveal intimacies of the locker room. But if Iñaki Peña did not play it was due to a disciplinary measure. The man from Alicante had already entered all Barça lineups by heart since Ter Stegen’s injury at the end of last September and there was nothing to suggest that the course was going to change. Szczesny, signed urgently due to the German’s long-term absence, did not seem to have convinced Flick enough in recent months to take Peña’s job away. The initial idea that the German coach had in his head for the debut in the Spanish Super Cup was to maintain the line in goal, but when the lineups were officially announced he appeared on the bench. The reason, according to COPE, was that the man from Alicante arrived four minutes late for the activation session at the hotel, a lack of discipline that Flick strictly enforces. Koundé already missed two games for a similar reason and not even the significance of an entire semifinal changed the coach’s mind. The regulation is there to comply with and there are consequences if it is not done. There are no distinctions.
After a long and patient wait, in which he performed excellently, Szczesny finally had the opportunity to make his debut last week against Barbastro in the Cup. A match that did not cause any major surprises and in which he appeared sober, maintaining the clean sheet. Surely, that previous debut facilitated Flick’s drastic decision, repeating with the Pole in goal against Athletic.
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Szczesny, who has seen them in all colors throughout his long and successful career, did not get nervous and completed an excellent performance, with worthy interventions and once again keeping his goal clean. This great performance leaves the ownership in goal up in the air. With a final on the horizon, an unexpected dilemma has arisen for Hansi Flick.
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