Barcelona face Joan Garcia dilemma with Zamora trophy in sight | OneFootball

FC Barcelona have already mathematically won and celebrated the La Liga title, but they still have 3 games left to play before their league campaign would officially be over.

In these 3 games, the Catalans still have something to fight for. For instance, as Hansi Flick himself commented in his recent presser, his team would be fighting to reach the 100-point mark.

Meanwhile, some individual players would also be fighting for glory, and this is particularly true for the goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who is on course to make history this season by winning the Zamora Trophy in his debut season for a new club.

At the moment, he is leading the standings for the award, although it would only be officially decided once the league has fully concluded. However, as Mundo Deportivo has pointed out, even if he does not play in the remaining three matches, he would still end up winning it, given his current advantage over Thibaut Courtois.

Right now, Joan García has conceded 20 goals in 29 appearances, with a coefficient of 0.69, which is the best in the league. Courtois, his closest competitor, has conceded 26 goals in 29 matches, with a coefficient of 0.90.

In fact, Courtois would need to go through the rest of the season without conceding again, while Joan García would have to concede six more goals for the race to even be levelled, which at this stage looks very unlikely.

Meanwhile, it is also worth noting that Courtois could technically still remain in contention even if he does not feature again, as he has already met the minimum match requirement.

Joan Garcia’s numbers are not only the best in La Liga, but also across the top five European leagues, which include the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1. The next closest are David Raya and Lucas Chevalier, who also have strong coefficients but still remain behind him.

As things stand, there is still a small dilemma over the goalkeeper selection for the remaining matches. In his recent press conference, Hansi Flick made it clear that Joan Garcia is the number one choice, while Wojciech Szczesny is the second option.

The Polish goalkeeper could still be given minutes in one of the remaining three games, although Flick also confirmed that no academy goalkeepers will be used, meaning neither Diego Kochen nor Eder Aller will feature.

FC Barcelona still have matches left against Deportivo Alaves, Real Betis, and Valencia, while Real Madrid also have their own remaining fixtures, which could still have an indirect impact on the final Zamora standings depending on how Courtois finishes the season.

The last Barcelona goalkeeper to win the Zamora Trophy was Marc Andre ter Stegen in the 2022/23 season, followed by Unai Simon and Jan Oblak in recent years, which shows how competitive the award has remained in La Liga.

For now, the situation remains simple, with Joan García firmly in control of the race, but still with a small decision to be made regarding whether he continues to start or whether Szczesny is handed some playing time before the season officially ends.