Barcelona (AFP)
Barcelona’s new coach, German Hansi Flick, praised the performance of the team’s young winger, Lamine Yamal, during the 2024 European Cup, describing it as “unbelievable.”
Yamal made history in his country’s opening match against Croatia, when he became the youngest player to participate in the tournament’s history at 16 years and 338 days.
The young winger made history again when he became the youngest player to score in the tournament’s history in Spain’s 2-1 semi-final win over France at the age of 16 years and 362 days.
La Roja won the tournament for the fourth time by beating England 2-1 on July 14, just one day after Jamal turned 17.
“He did a really great job last year, he improved a lot, what he did in the European Cup was unbelievable,” Flick said at a press conference to officially announce his appointment as Barcelona’s new coach.
“But the big players have to maintain their performance, and it is important for him now to maintain his humility,” he added.
“I think he’s a great guy, I spoke to him before when I arrived, and now he’s in this team and he’s giving us, of course, great moments, but he can improve and make things even better, he’s really on a great path.”
Barcelona appointed the former Germany and Bayern Munich coach on a two-year contract in May after sacking Xavi Hernandez, tasking him with turning around a club that had come up empty-handed last season.
“What I want to see is really good football, attacking football, and for everyone to be able to see that this team is really giving a lot to the club, I think that is very important.”
“You can only win with the big clubs, that’s why I’m here,” the 59-year-old coach added. “I’m not saying I’m going to win all the titles, but if we work hard we can.”
Flick, who led German giants Bayern Munich to a historic sextuple in 2020, became the first coach to be sacked from coaching the German national team in September 2023 after a series of negative results.
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