Barça has the last bullet left in the Champions League, a competition in which it has played seven games without knowing defeat. Beyond the feelings of the Blaugrana that led Messi to express on two occasions that “at this level it does not give us for the Champions” the truth is that so far, the Blaugrana team has completed a more than acceptable service record in Europe based on three main pillars.
Ter Stegen was essential in the first three games and then Messi and Suárez led the team in the offensive side. To these three aces will be added Ansu, who already made history in Milan against Inter on the last day of the league against Inter and Riqui Puig. Youngsters are the two wild cards that Setién will use in a more open competition than ever.
The German goalkeeper was the great support of the team at the start of the competition. In the debut at Iduna Park against Borussia of Dortmund Ter Stegen was the hero of a match which ended in a draw to zero. The goalkeeper embittered Marco Reus at night, who was penalized by a penalty and made an unlikely two-minute stop in ten minutes.
On the following day, Ter Stegen returned to being providential at the Camp Nou against Inter when he prevented the Italians from going to rest with the game sentenced. Lautaro scored in the third minute, but then constantly crashed into the German. In that meeting, Messi and Suárez appeared in the second half. The Uruguayan scored the two goals that were worth the win after a recital by the Argentine.
Again in the third game of the league, Ter Stegen was the savior of a Barça that resisted the siege of Slavia in Prague in a game that took Barça thanks to a goal by Messi, another at Olayinka's own goal, but in which Ter Stegen was the undisputed hero.
So much so that at the end of the match something broke in the locker room. While Busquets acknowledged that “Ter Stegen is life insurance”, the German goalkeeper came out to speak in the mixed zone, visibly angry with the attitude of his teammates. “It is normal that I leave angry, they cannot score goals like the one they have done and create so many occasions for us. We have to talk behind the scenes about many things.”
In the following Champions League game, the first of the second round, Barça punched against Slavia at Camp Nou because the hero was Czech goalkeeper Kolar in a duel in which Barça crashed on completion. Instead, Barça's trio of aces shone in the decisive match against Dortmund at home. Ter Stegen was sensational and Messi led the attack. He scored a goal and assisted Suarez and Griezmann in the other two.
In the last game of the group, with nothing at stake, Ansu appeared to become the youngest player to score in the Champions League and, by the way, decide the match. Neither Ter Stegen nor Messi played that day.
Classified first in the group, Barcelona played the first leg of the eighth in San Paolo, where Ter Stegen once again supported the team with two stops against Insigne and Callejón after Griezmann scored his second goal in this competition that may be worth his weight in gold.
Until now, clinging to the performances of Ter Stegen, Messi and Suárez, Barça still have not lost a game in Europe, but when it comes down to it, they will need the support of two wild cards like Ansu who already appeared in Milan and Riqui Puig in addition to the continuity of Griezmann, Piqué, De Jong and the rest of the team.