In light of their Thursday loss to Monaco, Barcelona’s manager Hansi Flick has acknowledged that his team deserved nothing.
With Monaco winning 2-1, Barcelona—possibly the most impressive team going into the first round of Champions League matches—had their bubble burst as Eric Garcia’s early red card put them behind the curve.
While Monaco fired eighteen goals at the unconvincing Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Flick’s team only managed four shots on goal and 44% of the play.
Flick spoke passionately about his side, saying, “We tried.” We sought to score goals despite our blunders. Although they deserved to win, we had a few opportunities.
“Yeah, we lost, but we need to bounce back and get better. This Sunday is a contest. We must battle for the squad and give it our all. Even though we lost this match, we won’t give up.”
Although Garcia’s early departure helped Monaco’s cause, manager Adi Hutter claimed his team “could have won by more” despite an outstanding showing.
Flick tried his best to stay upbeat about Barcelona’s goals for this season despite the loss.
“I’m not concerned,” he went on. “As a coach, it is my responsibility to analyse it. We need to heal now, but I noticed the players in the locker room were dejected. We’ll examine the game and have a conversation with the players to fix any mistakes that were made. The game turned with the red card.
Within the first ten minutes, we saw a red card, and that was when everything changed. We have to accept that these things happen, but I believe our team is capable of competing in the Champions League. We will win a lot of games and accomplish our goals in the final seven games.”