Barcelona squeezed Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday evening in their quarterfinals of the Champions League, but it was a match that brought a hangover with it. Although they returned to the last four in Europe for the first time in six years, there were more questions than answers for Hansi Flick.
It was mainly the players who asked those questions, with Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski, different levels of criticism of their performance after the game. Flick noted that he had to remind his players of their performance.
A lot of good news from the Barcelona perspective was the return of Dani Olmo due to injury. He played the last ten minutes of the meeting and Flick plans to relieve him again. Only ten days from their Copa del Rey -final against Real Madrid, his plan to gradually raise his minutes in matches against Celta Vigo and RCD Mallorca in advance, so that he can have a big impact during El Clasico.
Flick plans to restore his start midfield, with Pedri, rested against Dortmund, De Jong and Olmo for an hour. However, the latter cannot start against Los Blancos, possibly standing up as an impact replacement, as he did in the first Clasico between the two this season in the Santiago Bernabeu. Sport even claims that he is on his way to starting Fermin Lopez in Seville, with Olmo later.
Lopez has had more continuity than Gavi in ​​recent weeks, and although goals have escaped him, Flick is happy with his contribution.
It is worth pointing out that Lopez also received a starting place during the aforementioned Clasico in the Bernabeu. Marc Casado was also in the line-up that day, with Frenkie de Jong from the bank, although Barcelona improved with the Dutchman who replaced Lopez in their 4-0 win.