In a few hours, FC Barcelona will travel to the Nef Stadyumu to face Galatasaray in the round of 16 second leg of the C3, after a goalless draw in the first leg. The Istanbul club will be able to benefit in particular from its coach Domenec Torrent and its goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, both from the Barça school.
Since the arrival of Xavi Hernandez, FC Barcelona has taken time before setting up its offensive and polished game. After two eliminations from the Super Cup (v. Real Madrid) and the Spanish Cup (v. Athletic Club), the Blaugranas have not known defeat in La Liga and the Europa League and have even distinguished themselves offensively – 22 goals registered since the end of January (in 8 games) – which allowed them to acquire convincing victories (Atlético, Valence, Naples, Bilbao). But at Camp Nou last Thursday, the FCB could not find the fault against Galatasaray (0-0), despite a high quality attacking tackle, reinforced by the last winter transfer window (Aubameyang, Traoré, Torres) .
On the bench: Domenec Torrent
Facing them, a solid Istanbul team led by a former member of Barça: Domenec Torrent. After a modest career as an amateur player, the native of Santa Coloma de Farners converted very much as a coach, again in lower divisions before a young Spanish coach, aged 36 at the time, calls on him to support him at the head of the FC Barcelona reserve, in the person of Pep Guardiola. And since this 2007/2008 season, Torrent followed him everywhere: Barça, Manchester City, Bayern Munich. But after 10 years together, 24 trophies won, the Spanish assistant wanted to return to his role as head coach.
It is at New York City FC, another club in the City Group, that he will take charge of a first team in place of Patrick Vieira. But this new solo adventure was not as successful: after a little over a season at the head of the first New York franchise, Torrent left MLS and remained without a club for several months. He will wait for the recommendation of right-back Rafinha, whom he knew at Bayern, to sign his second contract across the Atlantic with Flamengo, with whom he will officiate for the first time against Atlético Mineiro… by Jorge Sampaoli (defeat 1-0). Three months later, a crushing defeat against the Argentinian technician (4-0) forced the management of Mengão to dismiss him in November 2020.
Again, more than a year of unemployment before receiving a challenge to match in mid-January 2022: replacing the emblematic Fatih Terim at Galatasaray, thanked after an unusual 12th place for the Aslanlar. To straighten out the Istanbul formation, he relies on a more open game, but that would have its flaws: 3 defeats and 9 goals conceded in his debut. It was during the month of February that he managed to record better results (2V, 2D, 1D), before keeping his clean sheets for the first time at Camp Nou. Result and defensive solidity: this is the best possible scenario for the Spaniard before winning the Istanbul derby against Besiktas last Monday (2-1), despite a blunder from Iñaki Peña, who was very solid against to his training club…
In goal: Iñaki Peña
Because yes, of course, he literally made a hole on the low shot Ridvan Yilmaz at the end of the match, but the Spanish goalkeeper surely delivered the best copy of his professional career against the club which made him grow (4 stops). Born in Alicante and first trained at Villarreal, it was at the age of 13 that the young goalkeeper joined La Masia to try to join the first team one day, with the first objective of becoming the number 2. But with the arrival of Neto from Valencia, that goal grew darker for him. He will have “benefited” from three weeks and an ankle injury from the Italian-Brazilian to replace Marc-André ter Stegen before returning to the reserve… Seeing that the As were moving away a little more, the international Espoirs (1 selection) made his mark with Barça B: 4 clean sheets in 9 matches played (3V, 3D, 3D).
But here too, the environment is not conducive to allowing him to gain gallons. This is where a place becomes available on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea: the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera suffers from a stretching of the cruciate ligaments of the left knee in December. The opportunity for Domenec Torrent to trust the child of a school he himself attended. A career choice hailed by its sports director Mateu Alemany: “He had the courage to go on loan, it will be a great experience for him, but it is an asset of Barça.” Arrived on the last day of the winter transfer window, Peña quickly integrated into the red-and-yellow eleven, even if the rise in the classification is not as fast as the supporters hoped…
If he goes from good to bad in the Süper Lig before returning to Catalonia, his performance against his training club has been talked about on the other side of the Pyrenees. So much so that some Spanish media were already announcing that Barça leaders would consider repatriating the 23-year-old goalkeeper next summer to install him in the first team. A decision that seems to be in line with the sporting logic of Joan Laporta’s board with the aim of highlighting the players trained at La Masia, but it would also be an economic boon: his return would be combined with the departure of Neto, on departure in order to free up payroll…
