‘I don’t feel like a champion yet’ — Hansi Flick reacts as Barcelona beat Real Madrid in La Liga | OneFootball

A massive El Clasico victory now sees Barcelona establish a strong lead at the top of the La Liga table. Heading into this game against Real Madrid, the Catalan giants had a four-point advantage. With this recent win against Los Blancos, however, Barcelona have now managed to extend that lead to seven points.

Mathematically, that now means that La Blaugrana simply need one more win to seal the league title this season. However, they could also end up winning the title earlier if Los Blancos end up dropping points in their upcoming game.

Hansi Flick believes there is still more to do

Still, Hansi Flick remains calm about the situation up ahead and has revealed that he still does not feel like a champion just yet, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo:

“I don’t feel like a champion yet… This is football. Yes, we’re in a strong position, and it would be great to win three titles, but we still need one more win, three points. And every opponent wants to beat us. We have the quality, and we’ll get there. We also have to celebrate this win against Madrid and appreciate what it means.”

Having completed a major comeback during the game to bounce back after going 2-0 down, Hansi Flick was proud of his team:

“These players are fantastic. We came back again from 0–2, and we had just played over 120 minutes in Milan. It wasn’t easy, and yet they did it again.”

Barcelona never gave up against Real Madrid. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The Barcelona coach was even asked about his own nerves, considering how tense this game must have been for him:

“I’ll need to get that checked. There was a lot of noise behind our bench. We had to make some big decisions today, and in the end, everything worked out.”

Figuring out the Barcelona defense

However, while he was addressing the belief that his Barcelona team simply focuses on outscoring their opponents, Flick made it clear that focusing on improving the defense was a priority as well, but that it needed more time:

“We have to improve a lot defensively and be more stable. When we press well, everything works, but when we make mistakes, like with the first goal, it becomes complicated. But the players worked well as a unit. Today was a tough challenge against very fast players. We need to fix some defensive issues, but with matches every three days, it’s often hard to train properly for each one.”

Impressed with his substitutes as well, the Barcelona coach did not forget to praise them for their performances:

“It’s not easy to manage the whole squad, but this group has a fantastic spirit. They love being on the pitch, they enjoy training, and they compete. They know that training at high intensity helps you play better and recover faster.”

Praise for Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres

Speaking about Lamine Yamal in particular as well, Hansi Flick did not hold back on the praise and commended the 17-year-old for doing what was asked of him despite having to overcome the recent loss to Inter Milan as well:

“He’s doing really well—confident, committed, and very smart. What mattered to me after the Milan blow was that my players bounced back and looked ahead. He’s a perfect example of that. Today, he lifted us again with his goal. He’s 17, and what he’s doing is exactly what we’re asking of him.”

Lastly, Flick also spoke about Ferran Torres and how he has stepped up in the absence of Robert Lewandowski:

“He played really well. Lewy was coming back from injury, and Ferran stepped up. It’s good that he’s performing at this level—he’s happy and loves playing as a number 9.”

With this victory, Flick has now made history as one of the most successful coaches already for Barcelona against Real Madrid. To win four El Clásicos in his debut season as the team’s head coach is no small feat, and it has allowed Barça to essentially come within touching distance of completing a domestic treble as long as they win one more game.