Barcelona briefing: Pena assured with Szczesny on the way and ...

Barcelona kept up their perfect La Liga start with a 1-0 win against Getafe at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys to make it seven victories from seven games in Spain this season.

Hansi Flick’s side are now on 21 points at the top of the table, four above arch-rivals Real Madrid, who have a tough trip to neighbours Atletico on Sunday. Robert Lewandowski was the difference-maker with his 19th-minute effort against Getafe but Barca were far superior to their visitors from Madrid — it would have been a comfortable margin of victory were it not for some erratic finishing.

But this was an encouraging result after the news of first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s season-ending knee injury. Let’s take you through the key talking points.

Positive night for Pena — but Szczesny in the wings

Before kick-off at Barca’s temporary home stadium in the Montjuic district of the city, their fans made themselves heard by chanting the name of Ter Stegen’s stand-in, Inaki Pena.

It was a bold show of support for 25-year-old Pena, the former Barcelona Atletic (Barca’s B team, largely made up of academy players, who play in Spain’s third tier) goalkeeper who had also stepped up when Ter Stegen was injured last season. This was a confidence-boosting performance as he claimed a clean sheet — the only real danger coming in the last minute, when Borja Mayoral miscued a fine chance.

Pena had more touches (45) than any Getafe player. He only needed to make one save but he completed 30 passes with an 86 per cent accuracy. He was assured in his distribution and in sweeping up behind his defence, an area of his game which caused doubts when he came on for Ter Stegen against Villarreal at the weekend.

It’s unlikely to be the last we hear about Barcelona goalkeepers this week. As The Athletic has reported, they have approached the recently-retired former Arsenal, Roma and Juventus No 1 Wojciech Szczesny to reverse his summer exit from the game and join them as Ter Stegen’s replacement. A meeting took place between Flick and sporting director Deco this week in which the club decided to look for an experienced ’keeper who could add competition and leadership.

Szczesny, the 84-cap former Poland international, announced his retirement from football after playing twice for his country at Euro 2024 and terminated his contract with Juventus, but Barcelona’s interest has made him reconsider.

Club sources (who, like all those in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships) say Szczesny, 34, has agreed to join the Catalan club and is set to travel there on Thursday. He is expected to speak with Juventus regarding a clause in the termination of his contract, but Barcelona and the player’s camp do not expect this to be a problem. Once it is sorted, Szczesny will have his medical and sign.

It was agreed Szczesny would receive a sum of money from Juventus as part of this mutual termination. The amount would be reduced if he decided to come out of retirement to play for another club before the end of June 2025.

Flick was coy when asked about the possibility of Szczesny being signed. “I only speak about the players we have in the club,” Flick said. “Inaki is our No 1 and he got a clean sheet. We are so happy for him and that’s what counts right now.

“Inaki is 25, and the other guys are really young. If something happens, we need experience. Deco and I spoke about that.”

Seven in seven for Lewandowski

Lewandowski has gone from being unwanted by Barca’s coaching staff last season to registering his best start to a campaign for the club, at 36, with seven goals in as many La Liga games.

Manager Xavi asked the club to sell the striker before he was sacked but the Polish striker is rejuvenated under successor Flick.

His team-mates could follow his lead. Lamine Yamal was in fine form again but just couldn’t find a goal while Raphinha and Eric Garcia missed good chances. But this is what Lewandowski was brought in to do in summer 2022.

“He is the best No 9 in the last 10 years,” Flick said. “His job is in front of goal, in the box. There are players around him who can give him the last pass, and that happened. His goal was the first time we played really fast up front, you could see the impact.”

The sequence mentioned by Flick was started by Garcia as he sped up play and passed to Yamal. The 17-year-old saw right-back Jules Kounde overlapping and offloaded to the Frenchman. His cross was misjudged by goalkeeper David Soria and Lewandowski made no mistake.

“What has changed this season? We find more crosses and passes into the box and, as a striker, this is the area of the pitch where I feel like I can do good stuff for the team,” Lewandowski told broadcaster DAZN after the weekend’s win against Villarreal.

Garcia making progress in midfield

Garcia deserves a mention after completing 90 minutes as a holding midfielder for the second game in a row and putting in his best performance yet in that role.

Flick has been forced to trust the former Manchester City centre-back in midfield after a long list of injuries — to Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal and another defender who can play there, Andreas Christensen. Academy graduate Marc Casado was left as the only natural holding midfielder, so Flick needed to find solutions.

Garcia experienced an unfortunate first start in the Champions League opener against Monaco — he was sent off after Ter Stegen’s poor pass to him in the 10th minute. But since then, he has made progress.

He completed 59 passes with an 87 per cent accuracy against Getafe, read players’ movement between the lines and showed his defensive nous in winning five of his seven aerial duels.

“Eric has been improving,” Flick said. “He was unlucky in the Monaco game, but he’s been working really hard in training and he did a good job. I am pleased with him.”

Garcia isn’t the best fit for the holding midfield role, but he is proving important for Flick as he deals with a lack of players both in that position and at centre-back.

What’s next for Barcelona?

Saturday, September 28: Osasuna (A), La Liga, 9pm CET (8pm BST, 3pm ET).

(Top photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)

Pol joined The Athletic in 2021, initially moving to Manchester to assist us with our Manchester City, Manchester United and Spanish reporting. Since 2015 he has been an English football correspondent for multiple Spanish media, such as Diario Sport and RAC1 radio station. He has also worked for The Times. In 2019, he co-wrote the book Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam. He will now move back to Spain, covering FC Barcelona for The Athletic. Follow Pol on Twitter @polballus