Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was disappointed with the team’s 2-1 home defeat to Atletico Madrid on Saturday, while backing his team to bounce back after the festive break.
The Blaugrana failed to take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the encounter to record their third consecutive home defeat after losing to Las Palmas, Leganes, and now Atletico Madrid, to surrender the top spot position to Diego Simeone’s team.
The visitors were the better side in the encounter and they earned a deserved lead when Pedri broke the deadlock in the 30th minute before Atletico Madrid turned the game around in the second half.
Rodrigo De Paul restless parity for the hosts before Alexander Sørloth scored a 96th minute winner to hand Atletico Madrid the maximum points, and plunge Barcelona into further crisis.
Hansi Flick’s men have taken just five points from a possible 21 in the league, failing to win in their last three matches.
The German manager has admitted that the team needs a break, and he has promised that they will be back better and stronger after the festive break.
He said: “Now it’s a break and I think everyone needs this break, after the break we will train and we will show how strong we are.
“For us now, we are all disappointed about this defeat because we played fantastic. Now we will celebrate Christmas, start training on Dec. 29 and focus on what we can do in the next half of the season.”
Flick was impressed with the way the team played but disappointed that they dropped three vital points.
He said: “It was really unbelievable how we played, this is how I want to see my team. I am proud. It shows also that Atlético is an experienced team and they are just waiting for this and for them it’s enough.
“I think our style, how we want to play, it was really great, fantastic. It’s really disappointing that we have nothing in our hands [from the game], this is the big disappointment.
“I said to the team I really appreciate how we play. Maybe we have to play more intelligently. We were punished for maybe two mistakes, we have to learn about these things, but this, for me, is the way.
Barcelona were 10 points ahead of Atletico Madrid in November, but Diego Simeone’s men have gone on a 12-match winning run in all competitions to join the title race. The Blaugrana have won just once in their last seven La Liga matches.
Flick revealed that he is not worried about losing the top position on the log to Atletico Madrid.
He concluded: “I know that we played fantastic in the first three months of the season, but at the end we lost a lot of points and now we are not the leader of the table.
“But, at the end, it’s also still in a good position, to let you know where you want to go. I’m not worried about that. The team’s doing really well. Today they showed everyone how good they can play. From now on, this has to be our standard.”
Real Madrid will also move ahead of Barcelona if they beat Sevilla on Sunday.
Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone was full of praise for his players following a battling victory over Barcelona to continue their impressive form.
He said: “I’m very happy with the team’s effort. We were humble enough to suffer and to defend against a team that plays very well. In the first half and I think until our goal they were far superior to us.
“Then I think we started to find our feet a bit in the game, and we saw that we could compete in the game. The team managed to hold on.
“That’s what a team is, when one player comes off and another player comes on and gives a response.
“We took Griezmann off early, which is difficult for me, but I knew that Sorloth had something that could make us come out from the back to hold the ball.
“I think the substitutions gave us strength. Some attacking situations that you can find on the counter-attack, an exquisite play, a great goal by Sorloth that gave us the chance to win a very difficult game.”
The victory was Atletico Madrid’s first away win over Barcelona since 2006.
Barcelona will have the opportunity to react to the defeat after the festive break when they take on Getafe in the La Liga on January 8, while Atletico Madrid will host Osasuna on January 12.
Barcelona Will Be Back Stronger After Festive Break – Flick is first published on The Whistler Newspaper