Hansi Flick: “I am disappointed with the result”

“After seeing how we played after conceding two goals, I am disappointed with the result. We had created so many chances,” was Hansi Flick’s first reaction. The coach is usually calm; that was not the case against Atlético. And he could not hide his frustration: “We played a great game with the ball, we had great chances to win. I hope the team can correct today’s mistakes. I think the team is young and there is still room for improvement.”

The message from Barcelona fans was clear: a big game at Montjuïc. However, the euphoric welcome with flares to the coach of Hansi Flick's players on their arrival at the Lluís Companys stadium turned into inexplicable violence in front of the Atlético bus, at which several objects were thrown. The Mossos d'Esquadra, also attacked, evicted the radicals, and they have been away from the cheering stands since Laporta's board closed it last November. The incomprehensible attitude of the violent ones was far from activating the blaugranas. However, Flick's ingenuity did, always attentive to the scoreboard. Against Atlético, backed by Cubarsí, a giant in both areas. "He is 18 years old and I think he played like an experienced player, as if he had played 350 games. It is incredible, really. With the ball, how he builds the game, but also how he defends. "No matter which striker it is, he is always there, he convinces us of what he can bring to the team and he defends really well. For us he is a very important player," said Flick.

With little regard for his birthday, the Barcelona coach blew out the candles prepared for him by the club last Monday, had lunch with the coaching staff at the Ciutat Esportiva and began to think about the visit of Atlético. The first thing he did was work with his players on pressing. The German coach's obsession with recovering the ball is nothing new. Before the start of Barça's last training session, Flick prepared a video on how to counteract Atlético's ball recovery. An example of this is the defeat of the Blaugrana team against Simeone's team at Montjuïc, a duel that ended badly, but which Flick used to explain to his players that this was the way forward.

In fact, to improve Barcelona's pressing, Flick opted to change the line-up against Atlético. Surprisingly, he did without his top scorer: Lewandowski. His replacement, Ferran Torres, does not have the same accuracy. In fact, the Pole scored when he came on. However, with Dani Olmo as the link instead of Gavi, Flick had bet on the intensity of the Valencian striker to stir up the pressure. A pressure that started from the high defence, only effective with Iñigo and Cubarsí.

The second concern for the Barcelona coach was to work, together with his staff, on set pieces. A success for the Blaugranas this season, the key to the frustrated comeback against Atlético de Madrid at Montjuïc. He has a practically unbeatable taker for this mission: Raphinha. The coach's right-hand man in the dressing room, the Brazilian placed two corner kicks with perfect precision and force on the heads of his teammates. First Cubarsí scored, then Iñigo Martínez. “Westermann and De la Fuente [members of the coaching staff] prepare the strategy. They do a great job,” said Flick. This is now 11 goals from a corner that the Blaugranas have scored this season. But it was not enough. “It already happened to us in the League. We are repeating it again,” said Pedri.

In the preparation session, Hansi Flick did not want to burden the squad with too many minutes of work, or even too many instructions. Some of his players barely practiced. Iñigo and Cubarsí, for example, did not complete the session. The youth player is the player with the most games together with Koundé this season (39). He needed a bit of rest, but he did not rest. He had the task of containing Julián Alvarez and Griezmann, as well as appearing in the Atlético area. After 63 games, he became the youngest centre-back (18 years and 34 days) to score in a Barça shirt. However, he ended up frustrated: Atlético sealed the draw in stoppage time. A result that partly tarnished the youth player's duel. "We will have to talk to the team about the goals we conceded. I hope that today's mistakes can be corrected. I think the team is young and there is still room for improvement," concluded Hansi Flick. Barça attacked and defended with intensity. However, they also became disconnected. “It's a matter of concentration,” Cubarsí complained. Errors that neither the youth team player's football nor Hansi Flick's pressure and strategy could compensate for.