Barcelona bounced back from last weekend’s El Clasico defeat with a 3-1 victory over Elche on Sunday evening, with goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford ensuring the three points stayed in Catalonia.
As per Diario AS, head coach Hansi Flick gave his assessment of the match, which he acknowledged was far from straightforward.
“I’ve seen things that we’ve done well, but we also have to improve. We have to fight. Today we had an opponent who wanted the ball and it wasn’t easy. We had to press and we did, that’s why we scored the first two goals and created more chances.”
Barcelona had only 49% possession at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, but Flick was not concerned about this – although he did recognise that he does not have the players at his disposal to play his ideal way right now.
“It’s not difficult to have control without Pedri. We can do that too. Pedri is an excellent player and we want him in every game, but without him we have to manage it. We can improve in many things, and we will. It’s three more points and we’ll keep going.
“It’s not easy, we have many players who have not been able to play in the last few games. We lack quality. The last two training sessions have been very good, one of the best this season. We have to talk about ball possession, we were not quite good in this. The most important thing is the three points. We have taken a step forward and we have to be positive.”
Flick also gave an update on Lamine Yamal and his physical condition, following the 18-year-old goalscoring performance.
“He has to manage his injury. Train, get treatment. It’s a good step for him. We can’t say that he is at 100%. We have to manage it.”
Flick also spoke very highly of Fermin Lopez, who was a standout performer during the win over Elche.
“He has done very good things, but like the whole team. He is not 100% and he must improve some things, but like the whole team. In recent games, he has always been involved in the chances and goals.”
