‘We will be out of Champions League if we don’t do better’ Hansi Flick warns Barcelona stars
Hansi Flick watched on as his side scored five goals on Sunday but wasn’t totally happy with what he had seen.
The Camp Nou victory ensured Barcelona have a four point lead at the top of La Liga over Real Madrid, with ten matches left to play
Barcelona scored their five goals but relegation fighting Sevilla got two of their own. Raphinha got his hat-trick courtesy of two penalties and a heavy deflection past Newcastle United loan keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Whilst the underlying stats showed that this match was far closer than the scoreline suggests and that with Barcelona looking vulnerable at times, no wonder Hansi Flick not totally happy.
Sevilla had more corners (3 v 4) than Barcelona, almost as many touches of the ball in the opposition penalty area (26 v 20), whist Barca only three efforts on target other than their five goals.
Hansi Flick warning his Barcelona stars: ”A lot of things were good…but at times we did not play with the conviction I wanted to see in my team. This is a huge week and we need to be at 100% on Wednesday against Newcastle United, because otherwise…we are out of the Champions League.”
Newcastle United a brilliant away win on Saturday at Chelsea, despite Eddie Howe making six outfield changes from the 1-1 draw against Barcelona.
Hansi Flick saying ahead of the United rematch: “We need to do things better. There are many things going well but there are situations on the pitch that are not fantastic. We have many games left but we need to play faster, we need to focus, Newcastle is a very good team. When we lost possession, [against Sevilla] we could have pressed better. Now the Champions League is coming up and it is important to do well…I think we could have done much better [against Sevilla].”
On Sunday, Hansi Flick rested three players who started against Newcastle United at St James’ Park, although all three coming off the bench in the second half against Sevilla. Lamine Yamal coming on for Roony Bardghji (after 67 minutes), Fermin Lopez replaced Pedri as Flick gave them a half each to save their legs for the United match. Whilst Gavi made his long awaited return after seven months out, when coming on for Raphinha with eight minutes to go.
Ahead of the Sevilla match, Barcelona boss Hansi Flick explained his decision to rest Lamine Yamal, who had missed some training due to illness: “He needed to have a break and Roony can play and do well, he is ready to step in if we need him.”
Hansi Flick pictured above voting in the Sunday election for Barcelona President. Following the match it was revealed that Laporta had won with more than two thirds of the vote, so will continue in charge.
