Report – How Flick handled Barcelona star’s frustration after substitution vs Benfica | OneFootball

Barcelona, last night, gained a valuable lead over SL Benfica in their Champions League Round of 16 encounter, with Raphinha scoring the winner.

In a game where Barcelona were down to ten men in the 22nd minute, the club had to make some tactical adjustments and play a relatively defensive game due to Pau Cubarsi’s early red card.

Needless to say, this forced coach Hansi Flick to make some substitutions, including taking off Lamine Yamal early in the second half – something that didn’t go too well with the young attacker.

Indeed, Yamal looked visibly frustrated after being subbed off as the youngster believed that he could have made a difference on the pitch. But Flick decided to replace him with Ferran Torres.

Flick approached Yamal after his substitution

Yamal had to leave the pitch early on in the second half (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)

As reported by SPORT, Flick was observant of Yamal’s reaction after being substituted. But instead of ignoring the attacker’s frustration, the German coach approached the player, offering him a handshake.

Although Yamal was visibly upset, he reciprocated and even listened to the justification given by Flick, even though he didn’t seem all too keen on hearing the argument.

Flick explained that the reason for his substitution was Benfica’s game-plan, which appeared to be catering down to their left-hand channel, with Alvaro Carreras, in particular, looking quite dangerous.

Therefore, the Barcelona coach felt Jules Kounde needed a bit more defensive support for right-back Jules Kounde.

In any case, Flick’s justification and words of encouragement to Yamal made sure that there wasn’t any kind of friction taking place between the two.