Barcelona must be clinical if they want to overcome Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey, says Hansi Flick.
Atleti defeated Barcelona 2-1 in December, when Diego Simeone claimed his first road in Laliga on the Blaugrana.
Barca had 19 shots and collected 2.72 expected goals (XG) in the defeat, with Athleti scored twice from 0.63 xg and only five attempts.
The Flick team returned to the top of Laliga, jump atleti, with a grim 2-0 defeat of Las Palmas on Saturday, and now the German coach, who turned 60 on Monday, wants an advanced lead from his side in the first leg from Tuesday.
“This is a new game. We have to prove it,” Flick told reporters.
“Atleti are a great team, they have invested a lot of money. They have the best defenders and the best attackers. It will be a tough match.
“The positive thing we learned [from the defeat] Is that we can play good football. What we showed there was at the highest level. We had the opportunity to score another or two goals before they scored.
“We have to take advantage of the opportunity to score, the most important thing is to score goals. And we have to take into account that they are two games and not just one.”
Birthday pits for Hansi Flick! pic.twitter.com/uqkbkqpiwq
– FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona) 24 February 2025
Flick hopes to have Lamine Yamal available after the 17-year-old winger had missed the training on Monday because of a knock he suffered from Las Palmas.
“We will have to wait to see if he can play, I see the situation as positive of what the doctor told us. And we want him to be with us,” said Flick.
Dani Olmo can now be fit to play a full 90 minutes after the couch to score on Saturday.
“For me, the most important thing is that he can start from the start, we have to take care of him and that is what we did,” said Flick.
“The goal he scored against Las Palmas was very important.”
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