On Oct. 2, in the aftermath of Marc-André ter Stegen's serious knee injury, Barcelona signed then-retired goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczęsny. Over two months later, Szczęsny has yet to make his Barça debut.
La Masia product, Iñaki Peña, assumed the starting role once Ter Stegen got injured and he hasn't given it up. Many assumed it was only a matter of Szczęsny returning to game shape for him to take over as the starter for the remainder of the season. That assumption was wrong.
Hansi Flick has fully backed Peña as his number one and his decision has paid off for the most part. The 25-year-old goalkeeper has played every single minute between the sticks since Ter Stegen's injury. In 14 appearances in all competitions, he's allowed 14 goals, kept five clean sheets and Barcelona has won 10 of those games.
There's no doubt that Peña has improved since Flick's arrival. Last season, Ter Stegen missed two months through injury and Peña stepped in to replace him. The Barcelona academy talent played 17 games in all competitions during that stretch, conceding an alarming 32 goals.
Despite Peña's growth, Barcelona is winless in its last three games in La Liga and Peña was criticized for his involvement—or lack thereof—in both goals conceded in the 1–2 loss against Las Palmas last time out in the league.
Nevertheless, Flick maintains a strong conviction on his starting goalkeeper. "I think at the moment there's not a plan to change that (the starting goalkeeper)," Flick said when he faced the media prior to Tuesday's game against Mallorca. "Iñaki (Peña) is number one, like I said it before."
"He's (Szczęsny) now really good, he performs really well in training," Flick said regarding the Polish goalkeeper.
