Ter Stegen talks following disastrous performance against Monaco – he did the same 12 times | OneFootball

Marc Andre-ter Stegen was the main culprit for FC Barcelona as they stumbled to a 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco, in their opening Champions League game.

The German international made a poor pass to Eric Garcia, forcing the defender to foul Takumi Minamino – an incident that led to a straight red for the former Man City starlet.

With Barcelona reduced to 10 men, it was not too difficult for Monaco to break apart the Catalan defence from there on, with the French giants scoring just five minutes later.

Ter Stegen speaks after Barcelona loss

With the majority of the blame going to ter Stegen, the German spoke to the media after the Barcelona loss, suggesting that there was a lack of understanding between him and Garcia.

“We didn’t understand each other well in the play, me and Eric. I feel bad for Eric. Something happened that shouldn’t have happened to us, but that’s football. We stood up to our challenge with 10 men,” he said (h/t Movistar).

Another mishap from ter Stegen (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Ter Stegen’s statement suggests he is not ready to fully own up to his mistake, even though it was his pass which forced Garcia to foul Minamino.

“We stood up for ourselves. And the second goal came at an undeserved moment. In the end, you are left with the bad feeling of not having picked up any points.

“In the Champions League you always have to win. That’s the objective. We’ll try to win the next game at home,” he added.

Ter Stegen has done it 12 times

This is not the first time ter Stegen has made a mistake, which has proven costly for Barcelona in the Champions League.

In fact, ter Stegen making individual mistakes or not living up to the standards in a high-profile UCL game has become commonplace.

Over the past seven years, there have been at least 12 instances where ter Stegen has either made an individual error or could have done something more.

This includes last season’s UCL game against Paris Saint-Germain, where the German conceded four goals in the second leg.