Barcelona manager Hansi Flick – ‘The experts on the outside have no idea how we want to play’

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has come out with a bullish defence of his style and of his players, following on from damaging defeat at the hands of Chelsea. The German coach cut a surprisingly positive figure after the loss at Stamford Bridge, in spite of what most perceived as a fairly resounding loss.

After the match, Flick said that ‘a different Barca’ would be seen in the coming weeks, and felt that he was optimistic about the future of the team. That is despite Chelsea representing a third straight defeat against ‘big’ teams, following on from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

‘The experts on the outside have no idea how we want to play’

Once again this season, Flick’s high offside line is coming in for plenty of criticism. He was fairly bullish over the causes of their frailties, reiterating a message that had been a constant all season: the forwards must also press.

“When we lose and when we concede three goals, it’s easy to say it wasn’t a good game or that it wasn’t the Barca we’d like to see. What I want to make clear is that for all the experts on the outside, they have no idea how we want to play. And what is necessary for how we want to play, and I will not say about the high line, but what is necessary for us to press. We want to press. It’s not only about the four defenders, it’s about the midfield, and about the forwards, who normally start the press.”

“That’s what I need from the players, that every player is able to press. At the end, the blame seems to fall on the defence, but that’s not fair. This is for me to make clear, if we don’t all press effectively, we’ll have problems. I want to make that clear.”

Hansi Flick explains optimism over Barcelona future

Going on to speak about his optimism over Barcelona, Flick explained that what he was seeing in training was the main motive for his optimism.

“I said I was optimistic because we did some things well, but we need to improve in some things too, I think we need to do it better in attack, when we start the press. Ultimately, it’s about what I see in training, and we are very focused, and we have a lot of quality and I like what I see. The players are very focused and have a lot of quality. Pedri is coming back, which gives us another level of quality, Raphinha, and Marcus is back from his cold, and will contribute even more. We are nearly at the point where we have everyone.”

“What I see in training is good. I have to be positive with the players. We are in the right moment, right mood to get better, this what we have to do. But it’s normal that I am positive.

“In today’s training session I saw good dynamism and more intensity, which is what we were missing in the match against Chelsea.”

Flick: "Lamine? It's normal that he doesn't like being substituted. I was a player too and sometimes I didn't react well. Cucurella is one of the best in his position and it's not easy to play against him. Lamine has to focus on Alavés now."

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 28, 2025

Flick on midfield selections

It has raised eyebrows in recent weeks that Marc Casado and Marc Bernal have remained on the bench, while defenders Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia have played in midfield. Flick assured they would have their chances.

“I think Eric can play in different positions, and we also wanted to try Andreas Christensen there. He’s good for set plays, we wanted to have tall players. We believe in Marc Casado and Marc Bernal, who is coming back from an injury. It’s true that he has not had many minutes, but he will get them. Casado will have opportunities; he is training well, he is smart, he has our full confidence.”

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