Flick talks Lamine, Ter Stegen, Balde, Lewandowski, Kounde, Casado ahead of Valladolid vs Barcelona | OneFootball

Following two big matches against Real Madrid and Inter Milan in the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, respectively, FC Barcelona return to La Liga action on Saturday when they take on Real Valladolid.

With a four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, the Blaugrana have an excellent chance to stretch their advantage and put further pressure on their rivals who play Celta Vigo on Sunday.

At the same time, though, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick will also have an eye on next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg vs Inter Milan and as such major rotations are expected tomorrow at Estadio Jose Zorrilla.

Ahead of the game, Flick addressed the media in his pre-match press conference discussing how he and his team will approach the contest against Valladolid, who have already been relegated.

“We have the objective of winning La Liga. It’s a title you win after a long season, you have to play at the highest level. It doesn’t bother us if they are in the second division next season, you can lose La Liga in this kind of game,” said the Barcelona boss.

“It’s worth remembering what we suffered against Leganes and Las Palmas in the first round.”

On the possibility of rotations for tomorrow’s game, Flick noted: “Against Inter we have seen that players like Kounde can get injured.

“We have to listen to the medical team now to find out which player needs rest. There are weeks to come and obviously we will have to make rotations.”

When asked if he plans on leaving any players behind in Barcelona, the manager replied: “No. Everyone who is fit will travel. We need all the positive energy. I saw that in training today and we need it tomorrow.”

The Barcelona head coach then confirmed that captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen will play tomorrow after more than seven months out injured, saying:

“Yes, Marc will play tomorrow. We can finish the press conference now (laughs).”

Further discussing the German’s return, he added: “I think it’s good for goalkeepers to have a little bit of minutes to recover. Marc is on a good way and his performance in training is fantastic.

“I’m not thinking about changing anything until the end of the season, but I might. That’s the way things are. For the moment, Marc will play tomorrow.”

Ter Stegen starts tomorrow. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Lamine Yamal has been drawing praise from all quarters after his stellar display in midweek against Inter Milan. On how to manage all the attention and hype surrounding the 17-year-old, Flick said:

“I think he knows what I want from him. When you are able to play at this level, the goal he has is to maintain it. Every player has potential to improve and so does he. He has talent and genius, but now he has to be calm and keep it up.

“We are delighted with his level, he is 17 years old, it’s incredible but we know he has to maintain the level and even improve. He wants that too.”

Talking about the conditions of Robert Lewandowski and Alejandro Balde, as well as Marc Casado, who resumed training today, Flick noted:

“We have to wait and see how they develop day by day. They are on the right track but we have to wait. It’s the same as Casado, who did part of the training today.

“We can’t take any risks. Robert is developing very well and we’ll have to wait and see with Balde.”

Further elaborating on Lewandowski’s condition, Flick stated that the striker could be back next week to face Inter Milan.

‘He could be back for the second leg. Robert is doing very well and his development is going much better than we expected. We’ll have to see. He is a great professional and always works hard to be 100 per cent. He might be back on Tuesday,” he said.

Regarding Barcelona’s approach to games and the number of goals that they tend to concede at times, he said:

“We can improve both in attack and defence. A lot of people say that we take too much risk in the way we play, even in the German press. If we look at the other teams and the way they concede goals I can’t tell you the difference between the two.

“We have scored a lot and of course our way of playing is risky, but I love it. In the end, you only focus on the defence in terms of goals and the strikers in terms of goals scored. But it’s all about the team, the important thing is to know how we play as a team.”

On the Blaugrana’s weakness against defending set-pieces, he added: “I think we can defend much better.

“It’s not just the height, it’s how you block, how you take responsibility in defence… but of course, we were hurt a lot by Inter’s set-pieces. Bayern also conceded. Inter also have a great shooter, maybe one of the best.”

Source: Mundo Deportivo