‘We concede too many goals’ – Flick on Champions League form

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has noted that his side are not defensively tight enough, in response to questions about the team’s mentality and chances of winning the Champions League. The Blaugrana secured qualification to the Round of 16 on Wednesday, but lost both of their ties against pot one seeds Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

Flick said that ‘of course everyone wants to win the Champions League’, and that his side would be working towards it every day. Yet he declined to qualify it as an ‘obsession’ as it was put. One of the primary obstacles that could get in their way is their defensive frailty this season. Barcelona’s strong record of comebacks was brought up to Flick, but he saw it as evidence of flaws.

“We conceded too many goals, which is why we had comebacks. Our mentality is to always believe in ourselves, but we have to do things better, especially at the start of matches. We must always be ready from the beginning, and that’s what I want to see from the team. It’s always interesting to watch Barça matches, but ultimately, we have great potential to work on, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Flick on Champions League form – ‘We have to do things better’

In terms of their Champions League performances, Flick was keen to press home the message that they were not doing as well as they had to.

“I’ve said it before, we have to improve, work on several things, but in the end we finished the first round in fifth place, and when you think about how we started, which wasn’t very good, after the game against Chelsea they didn’t think we could be in the top 8 and we’re in 5th place. And that’s what I’ve told the team. That I’m happy but we have to do things better.”

Flick steers clear of election talk

Last week, Flick was asked about President Joan Laporta calling elections, and explained that he was very happy to be working with Laporta and Director of Football Deco. Yet when asked whether a new president taking over would put his future in jeopardy, he was unwilling to get involved.

“Wow. This is the future. For now, I’m here and happy to work for this club. We’ll see. I can’t answer these questions with 100% certainty. As I said before, it’s very important that we have stability at this club, and everything surrounding the team is going very well.”

Flick: “Everyone wants to win the Champions League because it’s the best competition, we saw it the other day in the atmosphere at the stadium. We’re working on it and how we can improve.”

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“We don’t have a lot of money to spend on signings, and everything we’re doing is very good. We’re developing players from La Masia, the team atmosphere is great, the fans support us, and there’s a strong connection. It’s all about stability, and I think that’s what’s best for this club in the future.”

Flick has become highly popular in Barcelona following his major successes in his first season, and were his continuity to become associated with that of Laporta, it could be a major voting pull. The elections have been scheduled for the second weekend of March.