Barcelona welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Montjuic tomorrow night as they look to continue their winning start to La Liga. Ernesto Valverde’s team is a tricky customer to face and Hansi Flick will know his side can’t afford to have an underwhelming half of football like they did at Mestalla.
Flick named quite a brave line-up for the game against Valencia which included the decision to start a double pivot of Marc Bernal (17) and Marc Casado (20) on paper. On the pitch though, the former played as the sole pivot with the latter operated as a box-to-box #8.
There were a lot of things to work on for Barcelona after the game against Valencia, especially considering their first-half performance. However, one of their biggest positives from the game was the performance of Bernal and Casado.
Casado in particular had an incredible game against Valencia and was unlucky not to come out of the game with a goal against his name. The 20-year-old put in a tireless performance, running for the entire 90 minutes with intensity and pressing.
Hansi Flick was quizzed about Marc Casado in the pre-match press conference as quoted by Mundo Deportivo. The German admitted that the 20-year-old was similar to Joshua Kimmich in a certain aspect
“Physically, he is comparable to Kimmich. I watched a lot of Barça B matches last season and I really liked him. I see him in training and in matches. I am happy with the youth team. He is fantastic for the club.”
The Bayern Munich superstar is one of the best in the world at what he does, capable of playing in midfield and at right-back. Casado has an exactly similar profile and has played in both these positions in his career.
Flick’s words also give us insight into the fact that he had been watching Barca Athletic games last season – a team which was captained by Casado. It’s no surprise that the German has placed so much trust in the 20-year-old.
Casado looks set to stay in the first team and will think he has done enough to retain his place for the Bilbao clash. Let’s see if Hansi Flick continues to persist with the two youngsters in midfielder against a physical Athletic Bilbao team.
