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Barcelona finished their 2025/26 campaign with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the hands of Valencia at Mestalla.
It was not the brightest of performances from the Catalans, but there were silver linings, including Robert Lewandowski’s goal in his final game and Joan Garcia winning the Zamora trophy.
On the Garcia front, though, the Spaniard did not actually play the game, which was a calculated decision from Hansi Flick as things could have turned badly for the goalkeeper.
Flick’s smart call
Flick started Wojciech Szczesny ahead of Joan Garcia. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)
According to Diario SPORT, Flick made the deliberate choice to hand the starting spot to Wojciech Szczesny for the Valencia game, ensuring Garcia would not risk conceding goals that could jeopardise his Zamora trophy.
It proved to be an astute piece of management. Barcelona were relaxed and well below their best at Mestalla, conceding three goals in a defeat that would have done serious damage to Garcia’s statistics had he been between the posts.
Garcia had already met the minimum threshold of 28 appearances required for the trophy to be valid before the final game kicked off, meaning Flick could protect him without any complications.
The numbers behind the award
Joan Garcia could have possibly lost out on Zamora trophy. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Garcia ends the season having played 30 La Liga matches, conceding 21 goals at a coefficient of 0.70 per game, with 15 clean sheets.
His nearest challenger, Thibaut Courtois, finished with 26 goals conceded in 31 games at a coefficient of 0.84, and could not close the gap on the final day.
In order for Courtois to win the trophy, he needed to keep a clean sheet, while Garcia needed to concede four goals in the Valencia game.
Neither happened, as Garcia never played in the Valencia game while Courtois conceded two goals in the 4-2 victory over Athletic Club.