the class of Hugo Duro, the Valencia striker, who consoles ter Stegen after the ball

Valencia FC striker Hugo Duro had words of comfort for Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen after his mistake that allowed him to score.

Hugo Duro (24) took advantage of a fine gift to score his 13th goal of the season in La Liga, on Monday during the match between Barcelona and Valencia (4-2, 33rd day in La Liga). Marc-André ter Stegen, the Barça keeper who came out to meet him on a long ball, completely missed the exit as he tried to lob the Spanish forward. But the ball did not take off enough and Duro used the opportunity to equalize in the empty goal. After celebrating this achievement, the former Real Madrid player sent a consoling gesture towards the German goalkeeper.

“ter Stegen is a great guy who is never in any controversy, humble”

At the end of the meeting, he once again made classy remarks to his one-night opponent that he particularly appreciates. “I don’t know how long it will take ter Stegen without missing something with his feet, but I know how he feels. I’m coming from a very bad year where nothing came out. I don’t think it’s not necessary, we are first and foremost people, teammates and I think ter Stegen is a great guy who is never in any controversies, humble I would like to be done to me what I did.”

Author of an honorable season at statistical level (13 goals in 33 La Liga matches), Hugo Duro had experienced an ordeal in 2022-2023 with only one goal scored in 30 La Liga matches (two, all La Liga matches) with Valencia, who bought him for four million euros from Getafe the previous summer. This low performance had earned him strong criticism, erased by a newfound efficiency this season.

He is currently the team’s top scorer and number 9 in La Liga on the same level as French Antoine Griezmann in particular. Five days after the end, FC Valencia is in 8th place in La Liga, two points behind Real Betis, 7th last and currently qualified for a European Cup (Conference League).