Ter Stegen: People laugh when I tell them I don't know anything about football

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has admitted that he has "no idea" about football.

The 27-year-old Germany international has enjoyed a lucrative career so far, having won the World Cup, Champions League and four La Liga titles.

The former Borussia Monchengladbach star may be regarded as one of the best shot stoppers in the business, but it turns out he does not know much about the sport in which he excels. 

"People laugh when I tell them I have no idea about football," he said in an interview with El Pais.

"I don't see a lot of football, except when there are good games or when I'm particularly interested in one because I have a relationship or a friend. Sometimes they ask me for a player's name and I have no idea.

"In La Liga, for example, it happens to me with names. I don't know what they are called. But later, when they show me the video, I realise that I know exactly who it is. 

"I remember better how they move on the field, how they kick or stand out. It is a bit strange, it happens to me when we analyse opponents."

Ter Stegen is currently adapting to a quiet life locked indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While he is eager to get back to work with his Barcelona team-mates, he says the lockdown has given people a chance to realise and appreciate the important things in life.

"It can be analysed from a negative point, because we cannot leave the house, but I don't see it that way," he said. "It's a circumstance that makes us value much more the things in which we can believe, which are more basic, but which, in the end, are also truly important.

"Regarding work, we are in contact every day with our trainers. It is necessary to maintain the form, although it is not yet known when we will return to play.

"What is normal? It is a very relative concept. I go to the supermarket, I like to walk. I try to be natural, do the things that do me good and be surrounded by the people who know me and who tell me the things I do well and the things I do wrong. My friends are the ones of a lifetime. I believe in the few, but good friends."