Hansi Flick says Barça ‘don’t feel like champions’ after chaotic clásico

Hansi Flick said he was going to have check on his heart after he watched Barcelona come back from 2-0 down to beat Real Madrid 4-3 in a wild, chaotic game that virtually secured a league and cup double in his first season.

After two Kylian Mbappé goals inside 15 minutes Barcelona were trailing, their grip on the title seeming to loosen, their great rival momentarily moving within a point at the top of the table, but goals from Eric García and Lamine Yamal and two from Raphinha put them ahead before half-time.

Although Mbappé completed his hat-trick, both teams had chances, and the Madrid debutant Victor Muñoz missed a glorious last-minute chance to equalise, Barcelona eventually won their fourth clásico of the season.

That took them seven points clear with just nine in play, but Flick insisted: “We don’t feel like champions.” He also said his team would have to improve defensively. Barcelona had also conceded three in both legs of their Champions League semi final against Inter.

“I am going to have to check my heart,” the Barcelona coach said. “It would be easy to say that the tactic is to score four if they score three. We have to improve a lot defensively. When we press, it is fine. But this [can] get complicated when we make mistakes.

“It would be nice to win three titles and only need one victory now. [But] this is football. We are in a good position but you never know what can happen. We still need three points and every opponent wants to beat us.”

Asked if Barcelona were the best team to watch in football, having taken their goals tally in La Liga to 95, Flick replied: “You have to be the ones to say that; I suffer a lot. I hope we can do things better and make fewer errors. I don’t know if [I] was nervous at the end; there was a lot of emotion.

“It’s not always so fun. But I am very happy with what we do. We want to improve in every game and we have a lot of potential. The attitude of the team is fantastic.”