Emotionally, for Barcelona there is no worse rival in Europe than Bayern Munich. The last five games with the Germans have ended in complete defeats and an accumulated score of 2 goals to 19 unfavorable to the Barcelona side. A Barça that has not beaten its bete noire since 2015. The data is chilling. Of all these debacles, none was as painful as the 2-8 in the quarterfinals of the 2019-20 Champions League in Lisbon. That quote marked a point of no return. The end of an era. Part of the responsibility for all that fell to Hansi Flick, director of that German steamroller that ended up conquering the sextet.
Four and a half years later, that conductor directs the Blaugrana. And perhaps because of all the emotional burden it entails, Flick was more tense than usual in the run-up to the match. Concentrated. Brief in the answers. He neither wanted to respond to a German journalist about his new life in Barcelona (he said he did not talk about his personal life), nor did he delve into his past. “It was a very beautiful time, I have great memories of that. But now I am living a new chapter at Barça, where they welcomed us with passion and affection and where I feel very good,” he said. “The past does not count, but the present, the now. What happened has no influence; We can only influence what may happen this Wednesday by being prepared to give the highest possible level,” he concluded. Like someone who wants to avoid digging into wounds that will remain latent until Barcelona itself closes them.
It was a very beautiful time, I have great memories of that. But now I am living a new chapter at Barça.”
Because on August 14, 2020, that Hansi Flick felt enormous satisfaction after beating Barcelona at the Da Luz stadium in Lisbon. But also a little pinch. He had just beaten the club that excited him 20 years ago when he went to see his first game at the Camp Nou. It was March 21, 2006, in Bernd Schuster’s Barça-Getafe game, and the coach witnessed the match from a box. This match ended 3-1, with goals from Giuly and a double from Samuel Eto’o. At that time, the German owned a sports store “Hansi Flick Sport und Freizeit” in his native Bammental. That day he knew that he wanted to coach Barcelona one day.
Bayern has not changed. “He has a very dominant way of playing.”
The German coach now champions a rejuvenated Barcelona project that only has two survivors of the Lisbon shipwreck on the payroll, the injured Ter Stegen and the midfielder Frenkie de Jong, who is also a doubt because after five months out, he has barely played 24 minutes. in two games. “Our plan was for De Jong to play on Sunday against Sevilla. He didn’t end up feeling well. But now he’s ready,” said Flick of the Dutchman, who trained normally yesterday and who opposes one of the three pieces in the midfield.
Flick leading the training session
In fact, the coach has established such a starting eleven in just one semester that this vacancy is the only doubt. Flick ruled out Eric Garcia, who injured his right adductor during the warm-up prior to Sunday’s victory against Sevilla and who yesterday returned to training alone with Christensen. With this vacancy free, Fermín López and De Jong are playing for a place, while Dani Olmo and Gavi will wait for their opportunity on the bench. Also Ansu Fati and Pablo Torre. The other two positions are for Pedri and Marc Casadó. “He has taken a step forward in recent months. In each game he performs very well. He is clear about what he should do and I must say that he does it very well,” said Flick of the latter.
Read also
With or without De Jong, the coach’s goal is for his Barça to impress today the same seal that defined his Bayern. “Bayern has a very dominant way of playing, with a lot of pressure, with courage, with ball possession. He can play against any team and impose his style. It has always been like this,” Flick developed regarding the new era that Vincent Kompany has begun.
“It was a beautiful time. Now I am living a new chapter at Barça. The past does not count”
Due to all this level of intensity, and despite the fact that he will have been missing days after the duel with Sevilla on Sunday, Flick has thoroughly prepared for the match. After Monday’s recovery session, yesterday he locked himself in the video room with his technical team and his players for more than an hour to analyze his former team. “I’m not going to say how we will play. I won’t give any clues. “I can say that we are prepared,” he said.
“I can say that we are ready.”
Flick wants to show today that his Barça is also a team that defends in the rival field, bites to steal the ball and looks for the goal during the 90 minutes with a vertical game in which Robert Lewandowski, scorer of 14 goals in 12 games, is the spearhead. The Pole, like the coach, wants to return that joy to Barcelona fans who suffered so much seeing what happened in Lisbon. Today those fans will fill Montjuïc, the stadium that will record the best attendance of the season. There will be 46,000 culé voices in front of 2,820 Germans hoping that, this time, there will be no tails.
Technical sheet
FC Barcelona-Bayern 21h Movistar
PROBABLE ALIGNMENTS
Barcelona: Iñaki Peña; Kounde, Cubarsí, Íñigo Martínez, Balde; Casadó, De Jong or Fermín, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski and Raphinha
Coach: Hansi Flick
——-
Bayern: Neuer; Guerreiro, Upamecano, Kim Min-Jae, Alphonso Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Musiala, Olise, Gnabry and Harry Kane
Coach: Vincent Kompany
——-
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
VAR referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)
Stadium: Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium
#BarçaBayern #Hansi #Flick #faces
