Barcelona defender disciplined by Hansi Flick on day one of preseason

Barcelona have returned to work ahead of the new season, and on day one, Hansi Flick has been forced to show his hard-edged discipline. It was young right-back Hector Fort that got himself into trouble.

The Blaugrana were back in training for preseason on Sunday, with the club carrying out medical tests on their players. A number of their players have already returned to training early, including goalkeepers Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Joan Garcia, Ronald Araujo, and Marc Bernal.

Hector Fort provokes Hansi Flick ire

One player that did not return early was Hector Fort. Diario AS detail that Fort, 18, arrived late for his medical tests, and was reprimanded by Flick. The German coach made timeliness one of his strictest rules, benching Jules Kounde on three occasions for being late to team meetings, as well as Inaki Pena. It remains to be seen whether Flick will take further action, but in every previous case, it was punished with a benching.

Perhaps worse for Fort, they explain that the reason for his tardiness was that the teenage defender was one of the players who stayed latest at Lamine Yamal’s 18th birthday party on Saturday night.

Lamine Yamal’s 18th birthday party

Lamine Yamal did make it into the training ground on time despite his own celebrations, but may be facing a different form of discipline. The Spanish Government have requested that the event be investigated for the alleged hiring of people with dwarfism for entertainment.

Barcelona will only sell Pau Víctor in case of an offer higher than €10m. @sport

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Hector Fort’s difficult predicament

There had been some suggestion that Fort could be on his way out of Barcelona this summer, with interest from Como and the Netherlands, but he has rejected the idea, instead looking to fight for his spot. Yet Flick barely rested Jules Kounde last season, and towards the end of the year, during the Frenchman’s injury, Eric Garcia was preferred at right-back to Fort.

In addition, Fort was seen angrily reacting to Flick after a 4-3 win over Celta Vigo in April, due to a lack of playing time. Flick chastised Fort publicly for his reaction too.