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When Hansi Flick took over as Barcelona manager following Xavi’s sacking last summer, it was something of a risk for the Catalan club. But less than a year on, they are top of La Liga, into the Champions League semi-finals, and gearing up for a Copa del Rey Clasico against arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Should they win another historic treble, it would be the first time they have achieved the feat since Luis Enrique’s all-conquering side of 2014-15.
On this week’s show, Joe Devine, Jon Mackenzie and JJ Bull break down how the German coach has made Barcelona different.
This is The Athletic’s Week in Football.
#championsleague #football #barcelona
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Timestamps:
00:00 Why Barcelona are different under Hansi Flick
00:28 Hansi Flick’s “Barcelona Way”
07:44 Why were Barca slow before, then?
10:35 Raphinha’s Stellar Season
14:17 Lamine Yamal: Generational Talent
15:44 Individual talent shining in Barca’s structure
21:47 Champions League Chances
24:24 Barcelona are building an amazing team
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Additional footage sourced from AP Newsroom
24 Comments
0:37 Less than 40 seconds in, I’m already laughing😂, love this trio so much😂
You got me with the data!
América de Cali sweater?
I think than you overrate Barcelona. Let's see first what will happen against Inter
I'd love to see an Ansu Fati (at his best) and Lamine Yamal comparison.
Marc Bernal
Good talk but not talking about the high line/offside trap is criminal
The yamal pass was a mistake
America de Cali 🙂
23:00 Pretty baffling that Inter hasn't been mentioned. They are the toughest to beat out of the remaining lot.
I often say this, Hansi has tweaked the philosophy and dna of the club with his style of intensity, directness which the term forca barca embodies. Its like barca plays with such force/intensity that is difficult to stop. The force of barca. Makes sense. And shows that his style just blended with the philosophy and dna of the club. Not only effective but so dynamic and intense passionate that it's entertaining. Barca is known for it's passion and intensity especially during the revolutionary resistance movement against Franco.
Yamal reminds me of Di Maria for some reason. Two skinny left footed wingers. There’s a lot of similarities in their dribbling.
Does my man have a America de Cali sweater?
How random, love from Colombia
Imagine adding a young industrious striker with the ability to press, to that lineup… Osimhen under Flick with this team could be tasty.
My man using an América de Cali sweatshirt, that's meta.
18:00 Lamene himself said in the post match interview that it was a defetive shot but he didn't care because Raphinha was there to take the last shot.
The guy in the middle so annoying
11 mins in and no mention of xG or whatever other bullshit stats other channels rely on. Keep it up!
More Barcelona content 👍
You haven’t emphasised enough how good Pedri is. He is by far Barca’s best and most important player
This is the best video that explains Barcelona's tactics this year, perfect.
Lamine Yamal is not world class. He's been slowing down the attack to take on players uselessly way too much for a while. He does not choose his moments well, his balance between passibg and dribbling is nowhere near tactically solid.
Personally the biggest change for me as a barca fan this season is that the change in mentality and the in game adjustments done by flick by substitution and what not. In the past seasons barca used to crumble in the pressure moments but this season they are a different machines. Aside from these injury prone players like pedri FDJ are playing constantly and their game times are managed very well. so for me this is the biggest change flick has brought to this team
Tiki Taka has never been used a concept in Barcelona's media. It has always been "joc de possesió"" or "possesion game".