Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has explained the club’s Champions League eliminations have been ‘psychological’.
The German goalkeeper believes that the Blaugrana’s harrowing European exits at the hands of Roma and Liverpool in successive seasons have not been due to tactical issues.
Ernesto Valverde’s side lost 3-0 in Rome in April 2018 to exit the competition at the quarter-final stage before going down 4-0 at Liverpool the following year in the semi-finals.
“They cannot be clarified by tactical errors or in-game issues,” Ter Stegen told German magazine 11 Freunde, as cited by Marca.
“One must dive deeply into psychology issues. That is why I would never say that this cannot happen to us again. We are all frozen because there was no explanation.”
The German has been at the Camp Nou outfit since a €12m move in 2014 from Borussia Monchengladbach, making 202 appearances for the club to date.
His growing talented performances between the posts have propelled him to become one of the best goalkeepers in world football.
Barcelona have not appeared in the final of the Champions League since their 2015 triumph over Juventus, and have lifted the competition just once across the past eight seasons.
