Two defeats in six days should have cracked the dressing room. Joan Laporta’s answer, on the eve of the Ballon d’Or, was to put his coach on a pedestal.
Speaking to Movistar in Paris on Monday, the Barcelona president called Hansi Flick the ideal coach for the club and framed the project through the three principles he said the Camp Nou crowd wants to see: possession, positioning and pressing. He described the Clasico defeat as a harsh blow, according to Spanish coverage of the interview.
Laporta also tied Flick directly to the club’s founding philosophy.
“He is the ideal coach for Barcelona. He knows our system, and he is a fan of Johan Cruyff.”
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Flick is contracted beyond this season, Lamine Yamal was among the Barcelona nominees in Paris, and Laporta chose a global stage to publicly rule out any wobble over his head coach.
Mbappé double sinks Barcelona
Kylian Mbappé put Real Madrid ahead in the 41st minute at Camp Nou on Saturday. Raphinha levelled an hour in. Mbappé settled it with three minutes to play, sealing a 2-1 win for José Mourinho’s side that cut the La Liga gap at the top to three points.
It was Barcelona’s first league defeat of the season and the end of a nine-game winning run. It also came five days after a 4-2 Champions League loss at Paris Saint-Germain.
Flick: ‘We weren’t 100% fresh’
Flick, in his post-match press conference, traced the defeat to a physical problem rather than a tactical one.
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“I’m not satisfied. We weren’t 100% fresh, that’s the reality,” he told reporters, according to beIN Sports.
He said Barcelona had control of the match but lacked fluidity in the first half and were caught by a late Madrid goal in a second half he felt they had been winning.
The day after, speaking before an international break, the German returned to the same theme.
“It’s two defeats and we’re not happy. We’re disappointed,” he said, in comments reported by Yahoo Sports.
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Flick noted it was Barcelona’s first La Liga loss of the season, said the squad would get two days off before resuming training, and told reporters there are three matches to play before the international break, each of which he wants to win.
Laporta: title race is a long one
Laporta pushed back on the idea that two losses change the title picture. Barcelona lead La Liga from Real Madrid by three points, and he insisted “the competition is a long race” with Champions League ambitions still intact.
The next test comes at home to Alavés on Saturday, according to the club’s schedule, before the international break interrupts the run.
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