Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has admitted that his side are in a battle to revive their hopes of winning the Liga title after falling seven points behind Real Madrid this weekend. The German coach did have reason for optimism in his eyes though.
Flick believes that while the Blaugrana dropped points again this weekend against Getafe, he felt he had seen a turning point take place for his team.
“We’re now in three competitions, and we won our first title, and that’s great. But also, and I don’t like to look back, our results in La Liga, it’s not good. Of course, when you see the situation in La Liga, there is nothing to hide, it is not what we want.”
Hansi Flick: “Our goal is to win tomorrow’s game. It would be a great step for the classification and being able to finish in the top eight. Now we are second, it would be great to get the three points.”
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 20, 2025
“But when I see after the break, how we played, it’s really good. And of course everyone knows that it’s difficult to play in Getafe. I hope tomorrow to see a different style of football from my team. Benfica is also a team that likes to play football. It’s great to see, and they like to play, and di Maria is one of my favourite players.”
He was asked whether he felt the Blaugrana still had a shot at winning the title.
“All I can say is that we will fight for it, and we will give everything for it. In the next month, we will see at the end how it is.”
Barcelona have seen a seven-point lead of their own slip away, with a dreadful run of just two wins in the league since their victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Before Flick spoke to the press, Benfica manager Bruno Lage explained that in his eyes, Barcelona were the favourites for the Champions League.
“It’s one of the most difficult things to do. But we will try it. When I see Liverpool, they are at a really great level, performing in every match, they have a strong team, you see the power of them. Their manager did a great job and it’s one of my favourite teams.”
The German coach was pressed on their league form, and not only tried to take responsibility for their issues in La Liga, but also had words of praise for Getafe. He was less happy with the penalty not awarded for what he felt was a foul on Jules Kounde, but on the whole was impressed with Los Azulones.
“I will take away the pressure for the team, the team does a really great job, they are playing very well, they train very well. I will say what I said in Getafe. It’s my first season here, and I haven’t experienced it. It’s really unbelievable how they play.”
“You’re always looking up, it’s like tennis. It’s not nice to play there. But what I can say is that when a team is 100% focused on this style, it’s unbelievable. Maybe when I was a footballer, I would not have liked to play there, but for them, it’s unbelievable to see, and they focus on this, 100% and they are successful with it.”
