Barça will seek victory this Sunday against Leganés after four setbacks in the last five games of the domestic competition, in a match in which Hansi Flick you will not be able to sit in the bench after seeing the red in the match against Betis. A fact that he spoke about in the press conference prior to this Sunday’s match and that has left a striking reaction from the coach.
When asked about his gesture against Múñiz Ruiz, the referee of the match at the Benito Villamarín, Flick reacted in an unexpected way before becoming serious. “I’m going to drink a little water before answering this question,” has expressed.
“I think my reaction was not good, it’s clear, it was myself (..) At the beginning of the season, I told my staff that they should not complain about the referees, because I don’t want us to lose energy in those things that we cannot change,” he stated.
“For me it has been hard, I am in a different League, I just arrived and they showed me the red. I accept the suspension. Maybe I need to work on my behavior. I just want the referees to blow the whistle in the same way, not just with Barça,” he insisted.
Flick has revealed that he always tells his players that they have to accept the referee’s decisions and play and for that reason he was pleased that they did not complain about the referees.
“The behavior is fantastic, different from a few years ago and this is the philosophy. (We have to) Pay attention to what we can do better. The referees can also improve. We are all human people and we make mistakes. I accept the red, I have to improve my reactions, that is my responsibility,” he summarized.
As for Sunday’s match, he has asked his players to play “one hundred percent” focused against an opponent who will look for Barcelona’s weak points. “Everything depends on us,” he insisted.
About possible rotations
Flick has spoken about the players he can recover and has named three players: Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati and Andreas Christensen. Regarding the Uruguayan, Flick has announced that the plan is for him to be able to play some minutes. “I don’t know how many, maybe he does it at the beginning or notbut he is ready to play,” he insisted.
He also referred to the recovery of Ansu Fati, injured for a month, and the progress of Andreas Christensen, who has not played since the end of August.
He has not confirmed whether there will be rotations in his starting eleven, but the German coach has clarified that his team is fully focused on the match against Leganés, not on next week’s match against Atlético de Madrid. “Sunday’s game is against Leganés and I have to decide. We have very quality players and it could be that there was some rotation,” he insisted.
Regarding his replacement on the bench on Sunday, his assistant Marcus Sorg commented that he is a coach “with a lot of experience and knowledge” of football that he has. “all the trust.”