Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has held a lengthy meeting with his players following consecutive defeats to Atletico Madrid, putting their Copa del Rey hopes on life support, and to Girona, giving up the lead in La Liga. The second of those matches was expected to be a reaction from the Blaugrana, but Girona exploited Barcelona in the same way that Atletico did.
It was reported in the aftermath of their clash with Atletico that Flick was angrier than he has ever been arriving at Barcelona. Not only did he lambast his players at half-time at the Metropolitano, but doubled down on that fury the following morning. The following day, Barcelona’s players reportedly asked Flick to nuance his tactics against sides with more weapons, and when Pedri and/or Raphinha are absent.
After their clash with Girona, Flick revealed that he had given the players two days off to mentally reset. MD say that on their return to training, Flick held an hour-long meeting with his players out on the training pitch. During that hour, he went over the errors that Barcelona had made again, and told the players that he would not ease away from his style of play, and that his priority was to get back the intensity in their play rather than alter it.
He insisted that with if his players are better positioned on the pitch, and press better higher up, the opposition will not be able to create as mnay chances that Atletico did. Flick also stressed that their efificiency up front must be better, after one goal in their last two games, in which they had 32 shots (10 on target). This is corroborated by Sport – Flick doubled down on his style and asked his team to get back to what they did last season, rather than alter it.
🚨 Pau Cubarsí: "That VAR check of almost 10 minutes against Atlético Madrid cut off the good start of the second half that we had made. That goal would have allowed us to face the rest of the game with real possibilities of getting closer in the result." [@mundodeportivo]
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 19, 2026
It was reported earlier in the week that Pedri could see some game time on Saturday against Levante, as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Marcus Rashford has been out of action with knee pain, but both did part of the training session with the rest of the group, suggesting they could be back on Sunday against Levante.
