Hansi Flick confirms Wojciech Szczesny will not play for the foreseeable

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has confirmed that Inaki Pena will remain their starting goalkeeper going forward, two months after the Catalan side retired Wojciech Szczesny.

Many expected Szczesny to take over once Marc-Andre ter Stegen went down with an injury, given their respective CVs in the match, but Flick has maintained faith in Pena. That paid off during El Clasico, with a number of crucial saves.

Flick was asked if Szczesny would get a chance to play soon.

“He is now performing very well in training. But right now the plan is not to change that, so Inaki is number one. I've always said it, and this remains the same.”

The Germany manager said he had not noticed Raphinha retaining the captain's armband despite Frenkie de Jong coming on as a substitute against Las Palmas, and did not know why that did not happen. In addition, he also dismissed complaints about the referees in the same match, because he did not want this to come across as an excuse. His main message was that he saw more fight from his players.