‘He is the number one’… Hansi Flick establishes who his first-choice Barcelona goalkeeper is | OneFootball

Any head coach at FC Barcelona has to make difficult decisions from time to time. With so much at stake and so little room for error, there is always a pressure to make the right call. Unfortunately, however, not every decision made at Barcelona can sit well with everyone.

Despite that, the coaches need to stand by what they believe is the right decision as that is what they are hired to do in the first place. When it comes to Hansi Flick, some decisions may reportedly not have the full support of the locker room, but they are ultimately his calls to make.

One such decision was the one that Hansi Flick had made regarding the first-choice Barcelona goalkeeper. While initially his pick for the role was Inaki Pena after the unfortunate injury to
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, that understanding was later altered as Flick seemed to change his mind.

With Wojciech Szczesny now seen as the starter, many were concerned about what it meant for Pena or if it was just a temporary thing at Barcelona. Now, however, the coach has officially confirmed it himself in his most recent press conference ahead of the game against Deportivo Alaves in La Liga.

As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, Flick made it clear enough when asked if Szczesny was now the undisputed number one for Barça when it came to goalkeepers:

“For now, that’s how it is. He is the number one.”

Despite reiterating his faith in Pena before, it seems now that Hansi Flick has completely been convinced by the Polish goalkeeper instead. Perhaps it is his experience and longevity that the German coach trusts and hopes to rely on moving forward.

Either way, it is a decision and statement that could have consequences on Inaki Pena’s end. Despite originally serving as a back-up option to Ter Stegen, the Spaniard will definitely feel a bit frustrated to lose his starting position despite giving no performance-based reason for Flick to demote him.