FC Barcelona dropped their first points of this 2024-25 league season last night as they fell to a defeat to Osasuna at El Sadar. With this loss, the Blaugranes’ winning run comes to an end, which had seen the Catalan team come near equalling one of their best starts to a league campaign in history.
Undoubtedly, Barcelona undertook this visit to Pamplona in very difficult circumstances. They had several of their key players unavailable due to injuries, while other important players were also unable to play as they had been playing a lot of minutes lately, and needed some rest.
The rotations made in this game have been criticized as one of the factors that led to this defeat. However, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, Flick defended his decision to sit out some of his important starters for this game.
The German tactician was speaking to the press after the game when he justified his decision to make as many as five changes in his team for the last match:
“I believe it’s my responsibility to protect the players because they’ve been playing many minutes. But I didn’t expect us to play like this. I told the team we need to keep moving forward. We played on Tuesday, Sunday… and we’re on the right track.“
Despite this setback, Flick was already looking ahead to the team’s next match, against Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League:
“We have two days to recover. I hope we see the best version of the team. I believe we need to secure our first Champions League win.”
The Barcelona trainer also raised some doubts about the veracity of the refereeing decision in the build-up to Osasuna’s second goal and also to a possible penalty on Lamine Yamal:
“Although I think there was a foul at the start of the action leading to the second goal, I’m not entirely sure since I haven’t been able to see it yet, but that’s what I’ve heard.”
“I’m sitting outside and don’t have a good view. It could have been a foul, but it’s the referee who decides, and there’s also VAR. That’s how things are, and I don’t give it much importance.”
The German tactician also explained his decision to sub out Robert Lewandowski when his team still needed goals:
“He also needs rest. That’s how it is. Everyone needs rest. He’s strong, but every three days we have a match, and we do it for his own good.”
Thus, Flick has taken most of the responsibility for this defeat. Still, there cannot be a lot of blame put on his shoulders as he has to work with very limited resources, but hopefully, the team will bounce back from this defeat and get back to winning ways in their next game.