FC Barcelona captivated the world with its attacking play, but Iñaki Peña could change how the world thinks about “Barca” one day.
Peña, 14, is a goalkeeper on one of Barcelona’s youth teams. On Sunday, he dominated a penalty shootout to a degree that makes us wonder how soon he’ll be playing with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and other stars in the Barcelona first team.
Peña made six saves in a shootout performance for the ages. He dove every which way to deny each shooter’s attempt. As if that wasn’t good enough, the talented teenager also scored the winning goal, as Barcelona topped Atletico Madrid in the Torneo Internacional infantil Reino de Leon.
Barcelona’s longtime starter Victor Valdes will leave the club after the 2013-14 season. While next summer may be too soon for Peña to command the box at the Camp Nou, we’ll start campaigning for him now — just to get on the ground floor of his bandwagon.
Watch Peña dominate the penalty shootout in the video below.
Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag
