The latest victory for FC Barcelona comes over their eternal rivals Real Madrid. While this is still just a pre-season victory and does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things, it allowed Barça to see their own progression. Following the victory over Manchester City, this is the best possible step Barcelona could have taken.
One of the key points that the team kept in mind heading into this match was that they had to impress Flick more than they did against Man City. While victory was achieved in that match, the performance was apparently still not enough to fully convince the new Barcelona coach.
That is why this time around against Real Madrid, Barça needed more than just victory. Ultimately the game ended in a 2-1 win for the Catalan giants, but as SPORT has highlighted, Flick’s reaction to the game paints the picture of a team that has progressed but has still not reached its destination:
“We knew it was a Clasico, even though it was preseason. I told my players that we wanted to see an improvement on the field compared to what we showed against City, and I believe we did that. We performed excellently.”
However, he added some criticism right afterwards saying that he believes the team does lose focus at times and that pressing for the entirety of the game is crucial:
“In some situations, we sank too deep and didn’t press the opponent with the ball. That can’t happen, and it’s a problem. We need to focus on this and press for 90 minutes.”
Ultimately, these statements continue to prove just how demanding of a coach Flick is expected to be. To compete at the top level, however, these demands are exactly the kind of boost that any competitive team needs to be able to perform at their best against even the toughest of opponents.
With Real Madrid now out of the way as well, only AC Milan is left to conquer. Interestingly, Flick’s record in pre-season has been absolutely perfect so far. The new Barcelona coach has already led his team to three victories out of three games played and there continues to be a lot of excitement about what is to come.
