{"id":22743,"date":"2025-03-16T11:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T11:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22743"},"modified":"2025-03-16T11:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T11:32:06","slug":"barcas-flick-demands-focus-ahead-of-crunch-atletico-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22743","title":{"rendered":"Barca\u2019s Flick demands \u2018focus\u2019 ahead of crunch Atletico clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AFP<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Hansi Flick warned his Barcelona stars they need to focus to avoid crumbling against Atletico Madrid on Sunday in La Liga as they have in their previous two meetings this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders Barcelona are a point ahead of Diego Simeone\u2019s Atletico, third, going into the huge title clash at the Metropolitano stadium in the Spanish capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barcelona led against Atletico in the first league match in December but Rodrigo De Paul levelled for the visitors and Alexander Sorloth hit a 96th minute winner which helped them usurp the Catalans at the top of the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg Barcelona let in two goals in the first six minutes and two late goals, including another Sorloth stoppage time strike in a wild 4-4 draw.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have had really two great matches and of course we have to be focussed from begninning to the end of the match,\u201d Flick told reporters Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the first match, at the end of the match we were not so focussed like we can be, and also the second match was (the same) in the beginning and also at the end, so we have to take care about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you make mistakes Atletico can hurt you and this is what we have to defend against.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Atletico Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday on penalties by rivals Real Madrid, while Barcelona beat Benfica to reach the quarter-finals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez scored a penalty in the shoot-out for Atletico which was controversially disallowed because he may have touched the ball twice when he slipped as he took it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unlucky situation, I feel for him, he\u2019s one of the best strikers,\u201d said Flick, adding that it was \u201cnot a problem\u201d for Atletico to have played 120 minutes because of their squad depth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018One of the superstars\u2019 \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Flick has plenty of options himself with Dani Olmo seemingly ahead of Gavi in the pecking order for the attacking midfield spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gavi and Barca defender Alejandro Balde were not included in the Spain squad to face the Netherlands in the Nations League quarter-finals next week, but the Barca coach hailed both players.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(Gavi) came from a huge injury and he\u2019s 20 years old and now at the moment he is I think, not the first (choice)\u2026 a more difficult situation but he\u2019s doing great,\u201d said Flick.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment our midfield is doing really good. I\u2019m happy he\u2019s here and I think he will play many, many years for this amazing club and be one of the superstars here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe can improve a lot, he will do this. His attitude is unbelievably good, he\u2019s really focussed and really happy he is here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the World Cup 2026 he will be there and be able to play, 100 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Flick said Balde was \u201cone of the best\u201d left-backs in the world, and also praised veteran centre-back Inigo Martinez, who was called up for Spain by national team coach Luis de la Fuente.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith his attitude and mentality he\u2019s unbelievably good for every team,\u201d added Flick.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hansi Flick warned his Barcelona stars they need to focus to avoid crumbling against Atletico Madrid on Sunday in La Liga as they have in their previous two meetings this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10324,715,10323],"class_list":["post-22743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-atletico-clash","tag-barca","tag-hansi-flick"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22746,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22743\/revisions\/22746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}