Barcelona coaching staff was disappointed with 24-year-old ace after Real Madrid defeat

Barcelona’s 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup has not been taken well by anyone within the Barça camp and that includes coach Xavi Hernandez.

The Spaniard is under immense pressure right now, despite having the complete backing of the board, at least for now.

Xavi, for his part, is extremely upset with the players, particularly in light of their poor performance against Real Madrid in the final.

Xavi disappointed with Inaki Pena

While Xavi and his coaching staff are not happy with the performance of the squad as a whole, they are particularly upset with Inaki Pena, reports Diario SPORT.

The young goalkeeper, who has been playing in the absence of their injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen, had a disappointing game against Real Madrid.

The Spaniard could have done a lot better for the first goal, where he should have come off the line to prevent Vinicius. He was also beaten quite easily for the penalty.

Inaki Pena was one of Barça worst performers against Real Madrid (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

Inaki’s performance, as a result, left Xavi and his coaching staff quite disappointed, especially knowing the fact that at least one of the four goals could have been prevented.

This was not the first time Pena struggled in recent weeks. The youngster had a poor game against Las Palmas as well, among other matches.

This is a not a good sign for Barcelona, who are unlikely to have ter Stegen back to full fitness anytime soon. The German is slated to make his comeback next month, just before the Champions League encounter against Napoli.

Until then, Pena will continue as the main man between the sticks. It must be noted that the young goalkeeper was performing brilliantly, prior to his recent dip.

So it is perhaps safe to say that Pena has the potential – the goalkeeper just needs to calm himself and gain some confidence, as Barcelona brace themselves for crucial matches ahead.

Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-coaching-staff-was-disappointed-with-24-year-old-ace-after-real-madrid-defeat/

Author : Connell Edgar-Jones

Publish date : 2024-01-17 07:37:13

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.