Barcelona say Ter Stegen is back as captain after medical report is sent to Spanish league

The announcement came as Ter Stegen talked of how “especially difficult” the past few months have been
The disagreement led to the 33-year-old Ter Stegen being stripped of the club’s captaincy on Thursday. But that changed Friday

MADRID: Barcelona say Marc-Andre ter Stegen will return as first-team captain after announcing on Friday that the goalkeeper had authorized the club to send his medical report to the Spanish league.

The announcement came as Ter Stegen talked of how “especially difficult” the past few months have been, and he criticized suggestions he was to blame for Barcelona’s inability to register new players, insisting that his back surgery and recovery timeline were fully approved by the club.

The disagreement led to the 33-year-old Ter Stegen being stripped of the club’s captaincy on Thursday.

But that changed Friday.

“The club announces that the player Marc-Andre ter Stegen has signed the authorization necessary for the club to send La Liga the medical report relating to his surgery,” Barcelona said in a statement. “The disciplinary case has been closed and the player is captain of the first team once again with immediate effect.”

The club had opened a disciplinary proceeding against the goalkeeper on Tuesday after discrepancies about the recovery time for the lower back surgery that Ter Stegen successfully underwent last week.

Barcelona needed him to sign the injury report so it could be sent to the Spanish league in order to clear some salary-cap space and allow the club to more easily register other players without breaching financial fair play rules.

“These past few months have been especially difficult for me, both physically and personally,” Ter Stegen said in a statement on social media.