Coronavirus: Ter Stegen: "In every negative situation, there are positives"
Barcelona and Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen became a first-time father just weeks before the coronavirus lockdown was announced in Spain.
At this stage of the year, Marc-Andre ter Stegen thought he would be looking forward to Euro 2020 and perhaps silverware with Barcelona, but instead, the German goalkeeper is proving a safe pair of hands as a stay-at-home dad.
New arrival in the Ter Stegen household
The 27-year-old former Borussia Mönchengladbach star and wife Daniela became first-time parents in December when baby Ben was born. And Ter Stegen is spending far longer at home than he imagined, due to the coronavirus lockdown in Spain. Rather than heading to training each day, Ter Stegen is keeping fit at home, while ensuring he spends plenty of quality time with his three-month-old son. He has embraced parenthood, admitting that has been a benefit of the lay-off, albeit saying the early months of being a father have been quite intense.
But the keeper added: "In every negative situation, like the coronavirus pandemic, there are positives. We can be with our families and especially now, as he is growing so fast. It's nice to be with him. In the beginning, it was challenging because of the lack of sleep. We had to find a way to do it and now Dani and I are doing very well."
Ter Stegen, who is pushing Manuel Neuer to be Joachim Löw's number one with Germany, is sharing night-time duties with his wife as they tend to Ben's needs.
"Normally it's Dani, but now that I'm at home and I can make my own schedule, she made me as well," the goalkeeper said, in a video for Barcelona's official web page. "She said, 'Maybe we can make it one night you, one night me'. It's only one time which is nice, he lets us sleep easily. It's one time, it's nothing big. Then he goes back to sleep which is absolutely fine. I'm good, my family is doing good. We are at home as everybody should be and trying to spend some time together, trying to make things a bit easier even though it's not a fun situation."
As Spanish football remains on hold, with no firm indication of when matches can be played again, the stars of Barcelona, from Ter Stegen to Lionel Messi, are reduced to home training. Just as with Ben's nappy needs or middle-of-the-night feeds, Ter Stegen is attentive to Barcelona's demands. "We try to do whatever they say to do or what is necessary to do," Ter Stegen said.