Game-changing errors such as the one committed by Manchester City's Claudio Bravo on Wednesday are the unfortunate fate of goalkeepers, according to Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barcelona ran out a 4-0 winner over its Champions League Group C rival at Camp Nou, with Lionel Messi hitting a hat trick before Neymar recovered from a saved penalty to complete the scoring after 89 minutes.
READ MORE: Bravo must now heed own advice after calamitous error
The match was poised at 1-0 early in the second half when Bravo dashed out of his area, made a hash of a clearance and handled Luis Suarez's shot, leaving referee Milorad Mazic with little choice but to send him off.
Ter Stegen looked on as his teammates punished the mistake made by the man he was understudy to for the past two seasons, before Bravo signed for Pep Guardiola's City.
"Bravo and I talked about other things, but in the end these are things that happen — that's life for the goalkeeper," the Germany international, whose own slip-ups played a significant role in a recent loss to Celta Vigo, told beIN Sport. "This happens sometimes but [in the long term there is] no problems for him or for his team. Until the red card we had problems. At first it was a very difficult match, but we were finally able to make a lot of goals. For us it was very good."
Messi was the familiar source of most of those strikes as he hit the 37th treble of an astonishing career, but Ter Stegen hailed a team effort.
"Leo Messi is very important to us, to our way of playing, but we also have many players who can score and move the ball," he said. "We have one of the best teams in the world, but you have to prove it every week."
