Ter Stegen emotional after final home game

Marc-Andre ter Stegen struggled to keep his emotions in check after his final home game for childhood club Borussia Monchengladbach.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper has spent the last 18 years working his way up Gladbach’s ranks, but will be leaving at the end of the campaign for a thus-far unnamed destination, widely expected to be Catalan giants Barcelona.

Ter Stegen played his part in a 3-1 win over Mainz at the weekend, a victory which saw Gladbach seal a UEFA Europa League spot at the expense of their opponents.

The result leaves Lucien Favre’s men still in with a chance of sneaking into the UEFA Champions League – they will do so if they win at Wolfsburg next weekend and Bayer Leverkusen lose at home to Werder Bremen.

Ter Stegen was in tears after the final whistle against Mainz, and spoke fondly of his time at Borussia-Park.

“It was a very emotional game for me,” he told the Bundesliga’s official website. “The support from the fans was sensational.

“As soon as the final whistle was blown, it was difficult. I started playing football with Gladbach and experienced everything here, even some tough moments.

“I always gave my best for Borussia. It was also nice working my way through the youth teams. I got a good education at Borussia and will always be Gladbach through and through. Nevertheless, I’m now looking forward to the future.”

Quizzed on where exactly his future lay, the keeper remained tight-lipped.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “I could say it whenever I like, but I’ve always said that I want to focus on Borussia.

“It was important for me to ensure Borussia qualify for Europe next season, and we’ve done that now. But we’ve still got a very important game to come and I’m not going to steal the limelight for myself. We’ll do that once the season’s over.”