‘Disconnected’ Barca must accept recent ‘slump’, says Flick

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick said he still believes in his players despite extending their winless LaLiga run to three games with the defeat to Las Palmas on Saturday.

Raphinha's strike in the 61st minute had canceled out Sandro Ramirez's opener, but Fabio Silva was able to restore Las Palmas' lead six minutes later and seal the win.

The result opened the door for Barcelona's rivals Real Madrid to close the gap at the top against Getafe on Sunday, leaving them four points behind second place with two games remaining.

But Flick's side had plenty of chances to score a win during their 125th anniversary celebrations, finishing the match with an expected goals (xG) of 2.32 to Las Palmas' 0.5.

Barca scored 28 shots, although only seven were on target, compared to the opposition's five attempts at Inaki Pena's goal, with Flick acknowledging his side's disjointedness at both ends of the pitch.

“I don't think there is a lack of confidence among the players. Players alone cannot win games. It's always about the team. We need to have good connections in defense and attack, and today we didn't have that.” ,” Flick told reporters.

“I believe in the players. I have confidence in them, but things are the way they are. When I started here I told them there would be no excuses.

“It's normal that some players, when they come back from injury, don't play at the highest level. But if we play as a team, we should be able to beat any team, but if some players lose connection, that's not possible.” Good.”

14 – Barcelona have achieved 14 successes in LaLiga 2024/2025, four times more than any other team in the top 5 European leagues this season (Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Cagliari, 10 times each). Jam. pic.twitter.com/wRBg0IzJ3p

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 30, 2024

Barcelona do not return to Camp Nou until December 15 against Leganes, with away games at Mallorca and Real Betis in LaLiga, followed by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

“We have to accept the slump, now another month starts. The team has the quality,” said Flick. “It wasn't possible today. We couldn't score in front of goal.”

Raphinha, who scored the equalizer, was one of Barcelona's biggest threats. He registered more shots on target (three) and created more chances (five) than any of his teammates.

The Brazilian also hit the crossbar and had a free kick brilliantly tipped over the bar by Jasper Cillessen, but knows his team must start winning again if they want to challenge for the title.

“We were bad in the game. We have to look at what we are doing wrong to try to improve the games and win,” he said.

“We have lowered the level of what we were doing and this makes matches more difficult for us.

“It's not about the goal for me, it's about the victory. We didn't win and I'm not happy with the match. Am I angry? Yes.”