Barcelona players rarely speak about having affection towards Real Madrid

Barcelona players rarely speak about having affection towards Real Madrid and this is the case once again with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

After proving to be a hit in his first season with the Catalan club, the German goalkeeper is looking forward to more first-team opportunities at the Camp Nou. He helped the club win the Champions League, while he was the second choice goalkeeper in the league matches. The young age of the German is likely to convince Luis Enrique that he will be the permanent replacement for Victor Valdes.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have had a long history of rivalry. There have been only a handful of players who have moved between the two clubs with Luis Figo being one of the most prominent. The Portuguese superstar was vehemently criticised by the club and its supporters for the way he moved to the Santiago Bernabeu. Even now the rivalry and the intense hatred towards Figo exists as a result of this move.Marc-Andre ter Stegen has tried to make an appealing gesture towards fans by claiming that he will never lower the feeling of rivalry with Madrid.

The same also applies for Barcelona’s local rivals, Espanyol, according to the goalkeeper."I don't really like Real Madrid. We have a big rivalry with Espanyol, because we are from the same city.But there is a lot of respect between us. Those derby games are always very intense.We want to repeat last season's success.We will fight for it, although we all realise it will not be easy," said the German international. It is widely thought that the performances of the 23-year-old could convince Germany’s manager Joachim Loew to use him as the first choice goalkeeper instead of Manuel Neuer. The formerBorussia Mönchengladbach start has featured in four games for Germany.