Marc-Andre ter Stegen Apologises for Mistake in Barcelona's Loss to Celta Vigo

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has apologised after his mistake helped Celta Vigo shock the Blaugrana 4-3 in La Liga on Sunday.  

Per Sport, he said: "It’s my fault, I’m really sorry. If I hadn’t made the mistake we could have won this game."

Barca had pulled two goals back after a disastrous first half in which they conceded three, but the German gave away a fourth to halt his side's comeback when his attempted clearance rebounded off Celta striker Pablo Hernandez and into the net.

Here is the goal, per Sky Sports La Liga:

Spanish football expert Sergi Dominguez noted how costly the gaffe was to the visitors, while Bleacher Report UK's Graham Ruthven wasn't surprised by it:

"

The team started the second half superbly, terrific intensity albeit circumstances/result and all came crashing down due to MAtS.

— Sergi Domínguez (@FutbolSergi) October 2, 2016"

Nevertheless, Ter Stegen has vowed to continue playing the ball out from the back, adding: "Even though this has happened, I’m not going to change. It’s just happened once."

The Guardian's Sid Lowe was also critical of the error and called for Ter Stegen to improve his decision-making:

He did approve of the goalkeeper's post-match response, though, as he accepted responsibility for the mistake but vowed not to change his game:

Indeed, the 24-year-old's style of play and desire to engage in passing moves with his team-mates will always carry an element of risk, one that will prove costly on occasion when things go wrong.

As the German gains more experience, he'll have a better understanding of when to choose certain passes and should be able to execute them better, too.

Despite the mistake, his distribution remains among his biggest strengths and changing his style of play would see him lose a key part of his game.

Further, in the long run the team would suffer for it—while goalkeeping errors may be lessened, his contributions to passing moves and helping to get the ball out from the back quickly and accurately during counter-attacks could somewhat reduce Barca's effectiveness at the other end.

Ter Stegen has provided the right response so far—now he needs to learn from the experience and show as much in the coming weeks and months.