For the first time, Hansi Flick will experience the magic, tension and rivalry that permeates a classic. For the first time as a coach he will set foot at the Santiago Bernabeu. For the first time he will lead the Barça of Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski and Raphinha against the Real Madrid of Ancelotti, Mbappé, Vinícius and Bellingham. He will do it with a Barça leader in the table. And it comes with reinforced confidence and self-esteem after having beaten Bayern in the Champions League. “I haven’t thought much about what this game means. My job is to prepare the team. But I do notice that everyone wants to play. In Germany there are classics but they are not the same, Barça-Madrid is the classic in capital letters,” reflected Flick, more relaxed than in the previous match against Bayern.
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As he already did to prepare for the match against his former team, Flick gathered the squad in the video room to analyze Barcelona’s eternal rival. The team then worked out in the gym before taking to the pitch. In these sessions Flick and his technical team place special emphasis on the defensive line and working on offside. “On the field we have technicians training this on the sideline. The idea is to press with and without the ball and we have to be close, united. In a compact way. Let there be no spaces. It’s not easy. But I believe in this team. The players are doing great and they have adapted and are adapting it to the game,” he explained about the preparation to leave the rival offside.
Flick has everyone available except for the injured Marc Bernal, Ter Stegen, Araújo, Christensen, Ferran Torres and Eric Garcia to prepare for a classic to which Real Madrid arrives with one more day of rest since they played the European match against Borussia on Tuesday. “We are not going to change anything. Our players have trained very well. “We are prepared,” said the German, true to his style. Without looking for excuses or controversy. Nor with the referees and the classic videos that Real Madrid Television broadcasts about the referees’ performances.
Referees have a very hard job and my job is to prepare the players. “I have great experience and I have never had problems with the referees.”
This time, on its official channel, the white club analyzes the history of José María Sánchez Martínez, the referee designated for the match. Furthermore, the controversy increases in tone with a mention of Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of the RFEF Technical Committee of Referees. “I didn’t know about the Real Madrid TV videos. Referees have a very hard job and my job is to prepare the players. I have great experience and I have never had problems with referees. “I told the team at the beginning of the season that the focus should be on performance, not on the referees,” he noted.
The coach of FC Barcelona, the German Hansi Flick, during the training held this afternoon at the Joan Gamper sports city
As already happened against Bayern, there are several players who oppose one of the three pieces in the center of the field. The permanent ones are Pedri and Casadó. Against Bayern Flick opted for Fermín in the starting eleven. In the last minutes Dani Olmo also came out, recovered from his injury. And Frenkie de Jong. “I have not yet decided if Fermín will be a starter or not. But he was involved in three goals. It is exactly what we want for him and he has shown it, we are very happy, that performance was great,” said Flick of the youth squad.
Lamine Yamal, star of the classic
Yes, Lamine Yamal will be safe. “He is an exceptional footballer. Lamine Yamal. Especially for the Bayern game I wanted to do one thing, I had several things to do and the most important thing was to pressure Alphonso Davies from the last line to the midfield because when he started attacking we know how important that is. And we saw in the first goal how it worked. He is a fantastic player, you could see him with the ball against Bayern. For us, what can improve in defense is also important,” he said of the 17-year-old star who will play the second classic of his life in the white fiefdom.
Flick watches the player Lamine Yamal
Flick arrives at his first classic among praise. “It’s nice to be praised, but I know that everything depends on the results. When we win, good, when we don’t, bad. We focus on how we want to play. There is a big change here in the club and in Barcelona, and you can feel it, the connection is admirable, the atmosphere last Wednesday was fantastic. That’s why we play football and we give everything to win,” he said.
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