Marc-Andre ter Stegen

At 32 years old, Marc-Andre ter Stegen has this physical status:

Marc-André ter Stegen (born 30 April 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays for Barcelona and the Germany national team. He spent four seasons in Borussia Mönchengladbach, earning 108 league appearances, before joining Barcelona for €12 million in 2014.

In his first season in Spain, he won the treble, playing for Barcelona in Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. Ter Stegen competed for Germany at various youth levels and made his senior international debut in 2012.

He was a member of the German squads that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 and triumphed the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and was also a member of the German team that qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Ter Stegen was born in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. He is of Dutch descent through his father. Daniela Jehle, his long-time girlfriend, married in Sitges, just south of Barcelona. She gave birth to Ben, their first child, on December 28, 2019.

Source

Club career

Ter Stegen began his career with Borussia Mönchengladbach, the hometown team. He established himself as the star of their reserve team in the first half of the 2010–11 season and was often seen on the first team bench. Although he was having a fruitful season, his first-team counterparts could not have the same success. Mönchengladbach's senior side was clearly failing in their attempts to prevent relegation, and boss Michael Frontzeck was fired by Lucien Favre on February 14, leaving the team rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga after only scoring 16 points in 22 match days.

The team's progress soon improved, but first-choice goalkeeper Logan Bailly's inconsistent form held the team back. Although he was able to produce match-winning performances, such as the one against Werder Bremen, were few and far between, and uninspiring matches often pulled out. Mönchengladbach supporters were quick to discredit the Belgian national, with some accusing him of more effort into his modeling career than his football. Ter Stegen's growth for the reserve team had not gone unnoticed by the supporters, and the new boss was flooded with requests to start the youth prodigy in the league. Favre eventually lost patience with Bailly, and was recalled to the bench in favor of Ter Stegen for the match against 1. FC Köln is a football team from Köln. The young German didn't disappoint, and the defense boasted a previously unseen sexiness. He stayed with the team for the remainder of the season, with four clean-sheets out of a possible five in the last five matchdays as Mönchengladbach avoided relegation by playoffs. During this run, he came to prominence by a last-man-standing performance against eventual champions Borussia Dortmund, making a string of world-class saves as Mönchengladbach saw a historic 1–0 win.

When Bailly was sent on loan to Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax and Ter Stegen, who had previously worn 21, Ter Stegen's reputation as first-choice goalkeeper was harmed.

Bayern Munich had success in their drawn-out hunt for Schalke 04's captain Manuel Neuer, particularly during the summer transfer window. At the Allianz Arena in Berlin, the German national made his debut against Ter Stegen's Mönchengladbach. The match did not go the way the pundits expected, however, with Ter Stegen putting on another good show while Bayern's loss to 1–0 defeat to Neuer. Borussia Mönchengladbach took on an unexpected title challenge after this match, with Ter Stegen and fellow youngster Marco Reus supplying Mönchengladbach with their inspiration.

Ter Stegen, Mönchengladbach's top star for the season after Reus' departures to Borussia Dortmund and Dante to Bayern Munich, emerged as Mönchengladbach's main star for the season. Ter Stegen had been voted first-choice again in February 2013, and it was announced that he had signed a pre-agreement with La Liga club Barcelona. The transaction was later denied by him.

Ter Stegen stayed at Mönchengladbach for the new season after being strongly connected to Barcelona. He resigned from a new contract on January 6, 2014, causing a lot of rumors about his future. Ter Stegen, who won by 3-1 on May 5th, said a tearful goodbye to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the season's final home match against Mainz 05.

Ter Stegen, the Chilean goalkeeper, was named as the new goalkeeper of Spanish club Barcelona on May 19, 2014, following the departures of Vctor Valdés and José Manuel Pinto during the summer transfer window. He signed a five-year contract on May 22, 2014, which will keep him at the club until June 2019. The transfer fee was €12 million (£63.6 million), and the buy-out clause was set to €80 million (£63.6 million). Ter Stegen, who departed after the transfer, said that joining the club was the right decision and that he wanted to remain in the club.

Prior to the season's first league match, Ter Stegen sustained an injury. Barcelona manager Luis Enrique made Bravo the starting league goalkeeper, where he would go on to win the Zamora Trophy due to his injury. Ter Stegen, however, did not appear in Barca's triumphant league campaign. Ter Stegen, on the other hand, was named the first-choice goalkeeper in both the Copa del Rey matches and the UEFA Champions League. In a 1–0 home win over APOEL, he made his debut in the latter tournament on September 17th, leaving a clean sheet. In his first season, he helped Barcelona win the final of the domestic Copa Del Rey Cup, a 3–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao on May 30th. He appeared in the Champions League Final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin a week later, defeating Juventus 3–1. In the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, he received the "Best Save" award for his spectacular "goal-line" save against Bayern Munich.

His second season began with a triumph over Sevilla in Tbilisi on August 11th. He led 4–1, but he later gave three more goals to bring the game to extra time, in which Barcelona beat 5–4. He made his La Liga debut on September 12, 2015 in a match against Atlético Madrid, which Barcelona defeated 2–1.

"These 25 games per season are not enough for me in the long run," Ter Stegen said on March 16, 2016. The coach makes the call. I hope that the high quality I've displayed recently is acknowledged."

Ter Stegen sustained injuries at the start of the season, owing to his absence from the Supercopa de Espaa and league matches. Since Claudio Bravo left for Manchester City on August 25, he became Barcelona's first-choice goalkeeper. Ter Stegen scored a penalty from Moussa Dembélé on September 13, 2016 which resulted in a 7-0 victory for Barcelona over Celtic in the UEFA Champions League. Ter Stegen made a poor showing on October 2, 2016, when Barcelona lost 6-43 to Celta Vigo, who had made two crucial mistakes that cost Barcelona the game. He later apologized and said that he would not change his playing style. He later received praise for his role in Barcelona's 6–1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Champions League on the second leg of the Champions League, where Sergi Roberto's pivotal 94th-minute winner kept Barcelona in the tournament's top-of-16 rankings to keep Barcelona in contention for the Champions League. Barcelona qualified for the Champions League quarterfinals, where they were eventually disqualified by Juventus. Ter Stegen was even more decisive in the second leg of El Clásico this season by winning by a massive 12 saves over Real Madrid, who held Barcelona alive in the La Liga chase despite being three points adrift of Real Madrid.

Ter Stegen signed a new Barcelona deal on May 29th, keeping him at the club until 2022, with his buyout price increased to €180 million.

Ter Stegen made some crucial saves, including two well-placed shots from Antoine Griezmann of Atlético Madrid, en route to a 1–1 draw in the newly rebuilt Wanda Metropolitano on October 14, 2017, preserving Barcelona's undefeated record in the 2017-18 La Liga season. Ter Stegen put on a spectacular diving effort against Athletic Bilbao on October 28th, defeating Aritz Aduriz from a one-on-one victory and delivering a spectacular diving effort for the same opponent with five minutes remaining on the clock. Ter Stegen, assisted by the manager's guidance, was responsible for Barcelona's lowest goals conceded of any club in Europe's top five leagues, with just four conceding. Ter Stegen grabbed a 90th minute shot from Paulo Dybala of Juventus on November 22, which was similar to a shot he had scored against Ter Stegen in the previous season's Champions League loss. The performance was strong enough to guarantee a draw and a first-place finish in Group D, qualifying Barcelona to the 2017-2018 UEFA Champions League knockout phase. Ter Stegen had saved 23 of his last 24 shots on target for a 96 percent save percentage at this time.

Ter Stegen captained Barcelona for the first time in a 2–2 draw against Celta Vigo at the Balados in the absence of regular captains Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi, with the latter starting on the bench.

Ter Stegen began with Barcelona in the 2018 Supercopa de Espaa, in which the team defeated Sevilla 2–1 to win the title, with Ter Stegen winning by a late penalty save.

Ter Stegen lifted his fourth La Liga title with Barcelona and advanced to the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, where his side was eliminated from the competition after losing 3–4 on aggregate against Liverpool, which included a 0–4 loss at Anfield in the second leg.

Ter Stegen played with Luis Suárez for the first goal in a 2–0 away victory over Getafe on Sunday, becoming the first Barcelona goalkeeper to provide an assist in La Liga in the 21st century. Ter Stegen played his 200th game for Barça with a clean sheet in a 4–0 home victory over Sevilla on October 6th. In a 5–2 home victory over Mallorca on December 7, he was a second assister. Stegen kept five straight clean sheets for the first time in his Barca career. In a 1–0 victory over Athletic Bilbao on June 23, 2020, the fifth was the fifth. In the 2-8 loss to eventual winners Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in Lisbon, he allowed eight goals.

Ter Stegen underwent a fruitful knee surgery, keeping him out of the team for more than two months, following the previous season. He missed several games and was replaced by Neto.

Ter Stegen negotiated a new deal with Barcelona on October 20th, extending his stay at the club until June 2025, subject to a buy-out clause of €500 million.

Ter Stegen and Barcelona beat Dynamo Kyiv 4–0 in a Champions League group stage match at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv on November 24th, achieving his 100th clean sheet.

Ter Stegen made his first appearances for Barcelona in 3–2 league over Athletic Bilbao at the San Mamés on January 6, 2021, making him the highest appearances in the club's history.

He won the Copa del Rey with the club against the previous runners-up, Athletic Bilbao 4–0.

Ter Stegen did not win any trophies with the team this season, and finished third in La Liga. Barcelona was disqualified from the Champions League group stage and later pushed out of the Europa League quarter finals by Eintracht Frankfurt. Villarreal's 2–0 loss at home ended this season.

International career

He was a member of the UEFA European Under-17 Championships in 2009, where he was a member of the winning team.

Ter Stegen was rewarded for his work by Joachim Löw, who called him up to Germany's provisional squad for UEFA Euro 2012. In a friendly match against Switzerland on May 26, 2012, he made his debut on May 26 but did not make the final cut for the tournament. In his second international match against Argentina on August 15, he stopped a penalty from Lionel Messi, who lost 1–3 on August 15th. Following Ron-Robert Zieler's dismissal, he came back immediately.

He conceded five goals in Germany's U21s' match against Portugal U21 in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Semifinals in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 27, 2015.

Ter Stegen was included in Germany's UEFA Euro 2016 squad but was left on the bench through the entire tournament as a back-up to starter Manuel Neuer; Germany defeated Germany in the semi-finals and was disqualified after losing 2–0 to hosts France.

Ter Stegen started in all of his team's matches, save for the first group-stage match, as Germany advanced to the tournament. He was named Man of the Match for his role in the final against Chile.

Ter Stegen was selected in Germany's 27-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on May 15th. On June 4, 2018, Germany's head Joachim Löw selected Ter Stegen in Germany's final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

Ter Stegen and Manuel Neuer engaged in a minor war of words over Germany's number one goalkeeper slot in September 2019.

Ter Stegen was cut from Germany's UEFA Euro 2020 squad in May 2021 after deciding to have surgery to repair an injury to the patellar tendon in his right knee.

Source