A look back at the career of the goalkeeper from Alicante, the German’s replacement among the Blaugrana’s three sticks.
Iñaki Peña could replace Marc-André Ter Stegen in Vallecas, where FC Barcelona will play against Rayo Vallecano on matchday 14 of LaLiga.
It could be the sixth time that Peña defends the Barça goal, having played just five games with the Catalans, all during the 2022/23 season: two in the League, one in the Champions League and three in the Copa del Rey.
Who is Iñaki Peña, Ter Stegen’s replacement? Clean sheets, goals conceded in Barcelona and teams he played in
Born in Alicante in 1999, he came to Barcelona from Villarreal in the Children’s category in 2012. During his first season he won the League with the Barça team and repeated this during his promotions, focusing on the Youth League of the 2017 season /18.
His good level between the sticks ensured that he reached Barça ‘B’ in the 2018/19 season. Since that year, the player has alternated between the second and first teams depending on Barça’s needs, participating in the Copa del Rey title of the 2020/21 season. The following season, 2021/22, the goalkeeper decided to go on loan to Galatasaray during the winter market in search of minutes. When the loan was over, he returned and in the winter of 2023 he started to achieve a first-team record.
The 2022/23 season is a year marked by the debut of the Alicante goalkeeper with the first team shirt: on November 1, 2022, he defended FC Barcelona’s goal for the first time at the Doosan Arena, in the sixth match of the qualifying phase Champions League groups. His League debut will come at the end of the season, on May 23, 2023 against Valladolid at the José Zorrilla Stadium.
Technical profile
As Barcelona highlights on the official website, Peña “stands out for his safety and steadiness between the sticks. He has a good start in the aerial game and provides a lot of power, although he also stands out for making good starts by beating the rival for long to block.” He is also “It is necessary to mention his commitment as a leader and he has shown that from the lower categories. With the ball at his feet he has a glove on his right leg and a lot of patience when it comes to coming out with the played ball.”
Five games with Barcelona
- His debut was in the Champions League on November 1, 2022, in the 2-4 win against Viktoria Plzen away from home. He played 90 minutes.
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His second match was in the Copa del Rey, on 4 January 2023. He conceded three goals to Intercity in a match that Barcelona needed extra time to win 3–4.
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Two weeks later he played his third match as a culé, in the 0–5 win over Ceuta.
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The fourth match with Barça was his debut in the competition: he played 45 minutes against Valladolid in the 3–1 defeat on matchday 36 of the 2022–2023 season, with the team having already sung the alirón. In that match he only conceded the third goal, the first two were received by Ter Stegen.
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His fifth appearance was on June 4, on matchday 38 of the domestic competition. It was a 2-1 defeat against Celta, but he only played the last 27 minutes and conceded the Galicians’ second goal.
In this sense, Iñaki Peña’s figures at Barcelona show that he concedes a goal every 53 minutes (7 in 371 minutes) and that he has kept just one clean sheet in five games, achieving three wins and two defeats.
Source: Goal