Vote: Drama surrounding ter Stegen – Who will go into the German goal now?

The German national football team will probably need a new goalkeeper for the Nations League season that has just begun. The DFB and FC Barcelona are concerned about Marc-André ter Stegen's continued appearances. And the Spanish newspapers are also worried about the goalkeeper. After the serious knee injury that the 32-year-old goalkeeper sustained in the game against FC Villarreal, speculation about the duration of his absence dominated the sports pages in Spain at the start of the week.

“Ter Stegen could be out for up to eight months,” wrote “Mundo deportivo.” Initial examinations indicate an injury to the patellar tendon, “and if the tear is confirmed, he will be out for the entire season,” it continued. On the front page, the paper wrote: “Pain and glory,” in view of the 5-1 win against Villarreal on the one hand and the serious injury to ter Stegen on the other.

There is no official information about ter Stegen's injury yet, a statement from the Catalans is expected during the course of Monday. “El País” also wrote about a patellar tendon injury. This was the result of initial examinations at the Vithas Castellón hospital. The patellar tendon (knee ligament) connects the lower part of the kneecap (patella) to the shinbone. “He could be out for at least eight months,” Sport also said.

Baumann, Nübel, Urbig?

For the German goalkeeper, who has been playing for FC Barcelona since the summer of 2014, the injury comes at a particularly bad time. He had just become the new number one in the national team following Manuel Neuer's retirement. But now Julian Nagelsmann will have to answer the T question again.

The national coach recently explained how important it was to put together a core team in the next few months with a view to the 2026 World Cup. Ter Stegen played an important role in this.

Kevin Trapp is considered his potential deputy, but the Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper is currently out with a muscle injury, but is of course a candidate in the medium term. If the last European Championship is taken as an indicator, Hoffenheim's Oliver Baumann would now be between the posts. The 34-year-old went into the tournament as number three behind Neuer and ter Stegen.

Another candidate with hope is Alexander Nübel, who has been loaned from FC Bayern to VfB Stuttgart. Jonas Urbig from 1. FC Cologne is the most recent goalkeeper in the U21 team. He would be the most surprising replacement. Or will Neuer return in light of the new facts?

Who should be in the German goal? Vote here

Ter Stegen was injured in Sunday's away match while defending following an opponent's corner shortly before half-time. He landed on his right knee and fell straight to the ground.

The Barça captain had to be carried off the field in a tragedy. “We have to wait. It will be a serious injury. “You could see that immediately when he was lying on the field,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick stressed. At halftime, she said to herself: “We're playing for Marc now.”

And even his colleague Thibaut Courtois from Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid suffered with him. “I'm sorry for the injury,” the Belgian wrote on X. “It hurt me a lot to see you leave the field like that. I hope you can recover soon and we'll see each other in goal again.” Courtois himself missed large parts of last season due to injury.