FC Barcelona Coach Flick Happy After Villarreal Win

FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick was happy with his team, after it beat Villarreal 4-1 at the Spotify Camp Nou to go four points clear at the La Liga summit.

Lamine Yamal improved blistering form by bagging his first ever hat trick, but Flick was happy with his men’s hard work on the whole.

“When we lost the ball, we pressed very well. We won the direct duels before the first goal, with and without the ball, and that was the key to the game: we pressed very well and very quickly,” the German remarked post-match.

Asked specifically about Lamine, though, the manager said that Barca is “taking care of him”.

“Sometimes when you score the second it’s easier, and it’s also the same for Lamine. He’s very young, he has to improve, but he has great quality and all the world knows it.

“The opponent sometimes plays with two or three against him and you can feel who doesn’t have the confidence or the dynamics for those one-on-ones. Today I’m very happy for what has happened; it gives him confidence and, when he enjoys playing football, it’s perfect for him and also for us.”

“They are very important goals, but the whole team played very well,” Flick also said, before talking about a Champions League-level outfit that gave the home team problems in spells.

“We know that Villarreal have very fast players. We were playing against third [in the table], one of the best teams. We can do things better, but I liked what I saw.”

Now back from his injury in late January, Pedri was impressive coming off the bench, and set up Lamine for his third. Flick called the Spain international a “very important player for us” who “also gives us structure”.

“He keeps the ball and it’s very good to have him. Of course, I think he will start on Tuesday; we will see how we do it.”

Tuesday is of course the second leg of a Copa del Rey semifinal fixture with Atletico Madrid, where Barca trail 4-0.

“Everyone knows that against Atletico it’s not easy to score four goals, but we’ll fight, we won’t give up and we’ll see what it happens,” Flick vowed.