Barcelona manager Hansi Flick addressed the media ahead of their clash with Atletico Madrid on Saturday evening. The winner of the clash will end the year in first place, and Flick has made it clear that his players must make the fewest mistakes to emerge victorious.
Flick confirmed that Hector Fort and Andreas Christensen would miss against Atletico, with Lamine Yamal, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen on the sidelines, but Ansu Fati will be back in the squad. The German manager has not yet made a decision on who he will replace.
“It's an injury, we have to accept it, we haven't made the decision yet. We will decide tomorrow,” he said about Lamine Yamal's injury.
Flick also gave a much more general assessment of his side, explaining that he was happy with their progress.
“When we started this project, I think if you said that on December 20 we will be first in La Liga and second in the Champions League, we did that. We lost some points, which is a shame, because we should have won against Leganes and Las Palmas.”
“The team that will make fewer mistakes will normally win, tomorrow there is another match, another chance to win. We have a good team, a young team, but we can also improve. We will fight until the end of the season, we want to achieve the big things this season, but we know it is not easy.”
Flick also noted Barcelona's strong record against the biggest sides, including wins over Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
“Against big teams I think we are doing very well this season, so I hope it stays that way.”
The German coach further emphasized that his team had to fight and would fight hard for the points on Saturday at 9 p.m. in Montjuic. Barcelona and Atletico are currently level on points, although Los Rojiblancos still have a game in hand.
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