Hansi Flick says he is proud of Barcelona's maturity in controlling the game during their 4-1 victory in Seville, despite playing about 30 minutes with 10 men.
Ruben Vargas immediately canceled the seventh minute goal of Robert Lewandowski, but Fermin Lopez and Raphina scored early in the second half to restore Barcelona's lead.
Fermin was then sent with a straight red card after an annoying tackle on Djibril Sow in the 62nd minute. But Barcelona kept Sevilla off before Eric Garcia scored their fourth with another minute.
Fermin only became the second Barcelona player in the 21st century who came as a replacement (17 minutes in the game), score and was sent in a Liga match after Vitor Roque in Mendizorroza in February 2024 (13 minutes of play).
For the first time ever, Barcelona has collected points in each of their last nine visits to Sevilla in LaLiga (W6 D3) and for the first time they have defeated Sevilla in seven consecutive games.
“I appreciate this victory so much, they were brilliant there and showed a lot of character and guts,” Flick told Dazn.
“We played well in the first half and in the second half we also did a good job, but after the red card we had to fight. It was great to see that we did it and we got the victory.
“The players showed adulthood and that is fantastic. We have defended well and I am happy with that. We could control their players on the flanks, they are a dangerous team to play against. I think we were really good.”
A player who was missing in the emphatic victory of Barcelona was that Ansu Fati, who had flick hinted, perhaps back in the MatchDay team for their journey to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
So far, Fati has only made four LaLala performances this season, because he was also connected to an exit, but Flick was happy with the progress he had made lately.
“It's a team decision,” Flick added.
I already said it [on Saturday] In a press conference. I spoke to him very honestly and he works well. He is very close to the team and that is what I want to see. “
The victory raised the third placed Barcelona to 48 points, one behind Atletico Madrid and two off-leaders Real Madrid after the capital pulled 1-1 on Saturday.
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