I certainly don’t blame you if you’re confused by the extraordinary nature of Barcelona‘s “Ter Stegen-gate,” a situation which went from “nothing-to-see-here-folks” to nuclear. Marc-André ter Stegen outright defied and utterly infuriated the LaLiga champions. Barcelona then publicly stripped him of both the captaincy and his squad number. He immediately crumbled, made peace and, bravely, took the microphone ahead of Barça’s friendly against Cesc Fàbregas’ Como to call for Blaugrana peace and unity in our times.
But please have this as your overall takeaway: Although the entire embarrassing situation is not yet wholly resolved, this has been a significant, risky but ultimately successful power play by Hansi Flick. Don’t be under any illusion about that.
Here are the facts: Having been injured for months last season, Ter Stegen got fit and played on Matchday 34. Given his thirst to win a second Champions League and his need for competitive minutes so he could be Germany‘s No.1 in the UEFA Nations League finals in early June (hosted in his home nation), Ter Stegen expected to play either against Inter Milan in the Champions League semifinal second leg or, at worst, the remaining matches in LaLiga and a hypothetical Champions League final.
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Only Ter Stegen didn’t play against Inter — Barcelona got eliminated — and he didn’t play in the subsequent two title-defining matches against Real Madrid and Espanyol. When Barcelona celebrated winning LaLiga after their last home game against Villarreal, it was scheduled and announced to the media that the team’s captains — led by Ter Stegen — would address the supporters postmatch. Ter Stegen, unhappy at his lack of game time and feeling unsupported by former German national team coach Flick, made it clear he was not in the mood.
Flick — genial in many things, but a brutal stickler for unity, rules and squad harmony — was so displeased that he dropped Ter Stegen in the “celebratory” match at Athletic Club a week later, where he was denied more valuable playing time prior to international duty.
During the summer, Barcelona signed Joan García from rivals Espanyol before telling Ter Stegen that not only is he no longer the team’s No.1, but he is free to find another club. Ter Stegen, albeit with medical approval, immediately decided that it was time for some relatively minor remedial back surgery.
Barcelona saw an opportunity — as they did when Andreas Christensen was injured last year — to keep paying their players as normal, but apply for special dispensation from LaLiga to change how their total salary bill is regarded. When Christensen was hurt, Barça were able to register Dani Olmo. With Ter Stegen’s surgery, Barca were hoping that new signings (García, on-loan Marcus Rashford, Roony Bardghji) and players whose contracts have changed (Wojciech Szczęsny, Gerard Martín) could be registered to play in the 2025-26 season, which starts this weekend.
To get this dispensation from LaLiga, they crucially needed to claim — and convincingly so — that Ter Stegen, a senior, well-paid player, would be out for four or more months. The length of absence dictates the amount of margin to register some or all the aforementioned players, and Ter Stegen needed to give signed permission for that petition to LaLiga. Without his agreement, it could not proceed. Ter Stegen refused, and Barcelona immediately — and ruthlessly — opened disciplinary proceedings against him, announced he’s no longer captain and stripped away his squad number. It was maximum public humiliation, and a very high-stakes move.
Within hours, club president Joan Laporta and Ter Stegen met, hashed out their differences, Barcelona sent their SOS to LaLiga and awaited permission to register their players. Ter Stegen, newly pardoned by the club because he had backed down and cooperated, was given a decent ovation, which mostly covered the whistles and jeers, by the 6,000 in attendance at the Estadi Johan Cruyff when he took the microphone for the traditional captain’s speech to the fans, which has begun Barcelona’s season for as long as memory serves.
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OK, everyone up to date and clear? So, here’s the thing.
Although they swear blind that they’ll solve this issue, Barcelona, at the time of writing and with four-and-a-half days until they kick-off in Mallorca (stream LIVE on ESPN+ Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET) , can’t use García or Szczęsny (both are unregistered), Ter Stegen is obviously out (recovering from surgery) and Iñaki Peña has been granted permission to join Como. For Flick and his employers to fight with Ter Stegen last week, given this goalkeeping situation, was an enormous risk. If, by some happenstance, they are forced to backtrack on Peña moving to Serie A or field their young reserve team keeper, U.S. prospect Diego Kochen, then imagine the humiliation. And what if that happened and Barça lost thanks to an under-par goalkeeping performance?
Assuming they get García and/or Szczęsny registered, the key issues around Flick’s attitude and actions are these: Just like when he ruthlessly dropped Jules Koundé for being late to a team meeting and then explained the issue at a news conference, Flick has used this entire issue to underline that he, not Ter Stegen, is the boss. That it’s the manager who decides who plays, when and for what reason. When Ter Stegen showed, through body language, things said around the training ground and then refused to address the fans in that LaLiga title celebration in the final home game, proof of his rebellious mood, he threw down the gauntlet to Flick, only to find it picked up and slapped across his cheek.
Although it’s the club that publicly disciplined their goalkeeper and the club, rather than Flick, who needed to pay the fee for García and let Ter Stegen know he was surplus, there is absolutely no way that Laporta or club sporting director Deco did any of this without the green light from Flick, whose contract they extended until 2027 after he won three trophies in his debut season. This was velvet-glove/iron fist stuff from the coach.
Please note, too, that in the middle of last week, several members of the first team were asked by the Catalan media what they thought of Ter Stegen’s situation. They unanimously talked him up, mentioned their respect for him and stated that the keeper should be allowed to retain his captaincy.
And there’s the other risk Flick ran. Beyond the danger of not having any of his three best keepers available in Mallorca on Saturday, there was the risk of undermining his popularity and harmony with the Barcelona squad. He could have made them all wonder, ‘are his actions as reliable as his words … and might I be picked on next?’
Last season his squad proved, repeatedly, that they would run through brick walls for him. Flick had them in the palm of his hand. So, to risk that, but then to see Ter Stegen admit that he had been in the wrong, to have everything sorted out at high speed, with maximum visibility, and then for peace to break out immediately before the final preseason friendly shows Flick as a master of brinkmanship and, now, more authoritative than ever before.
Every single man in his increasingly large squad not only knows not to cross him, but has also had a wake-up call regarding the kind of rust, complacency or overconfidence that sometimes accompanies a trophy laden season like the 2024-25 campaign. Game, set and match to Flick, then — just so long as his bosses finally get the rest of his goalkeepers registered and ready to play on Saturday. Mallorca must be loving all this.
