Barcelona will have a lot to thank Marc-Andre ter Stegen for after his performance on Sunday night against Atletico Madrid.Lionel Messi will take the headlines after his brilliant late goal gave his side all three points.But it was Ter Stegen who deserves the most credit for keeping Barcelona in the match to start with.The German goalkeeper was absolutely incredible from start to finish.He made two world-class saves in the first half.
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Atletico had a golden opportunity to go 1-0 up after 19 minutes.
Joao Felix whipped in a delicious ball from the left-hand side, which was met at close range by the head of Mario Hermoso.
But Ter-Stegen managed to pull off a quite ridiculous save to deny his opponent.
That's one of the saves of the year without a doubt.
And he came to his side's rescue one more in the 41st minute.
Kieran Trippier's corner was met by the head of Alvaro Morata, who must have thought he scored.
But Ter-Stegen got down low to make another terrific save.
You can watch that save at 0:57 in the below video:
What a performance. Ter-Stegen has been putting in some outstanding performances for some time.
He may well have established himself as the best goalkeeper in the world following his heroic performance.
His case is further strengthened given the goalkeeper many consider to be the best in the world, Liverpool's Alisson Becker, was sent off in ridiculous fashion against Brighton this weekend.
As for Ter-Stegen, he was just happy to help his side secure a vital three points.
“I try to do my job," he started, per barcablaugranes.com. "These matches make us grow as a team and that is what it is about.
"I am really happy because now we’ve played well for a few games while winning.
“We knew it was a difficult place to come. It’s normal that they have chances. They have a lot of quality.
"But defensively we played really well and in the end we’ve scored the goal which has earned a really important win.”
“That’s what we hoped for before the game and what we prepared for all week. I am really happy with this win.”