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Hansi Flick, Barcelona and What La Liga couldn’t work out – SportsNews


In the long run, no person might work out methods to cease Hansi Flick’s FC Barcelona.

No, Barcelona haven’t mathematically clinched LaLiga simply but, however that twenty eighth league title is a query of days after Sunday’s Cla klsico victory pushed the Blaugrana’s benefit atop the desk to seven factors with three rounds to go.

Sunday’s 4-3 victory over Actual Madrid clinched a sensational Clásico double within the league, along with Barcelona’s two cup remaining wins at Madrid’s expense this season. In whole, Barca have racked up 4 victories and scored 16 objectives in opposition to Madrid – outcomes that performed no small half in Carlo Ancelotti’s departure for the Brazil job on Monday. 

Barca can end the job Thursday within the Catalan derby in opposition to Espanyol – the location of the Blaugrana’s earlier title triumph two years in the past.

There are a number of components as to why Barcelona quickly will probably be celebrating an sudden title triumph. It’s simple to overlook that there have been doubts surrounding Flick’s appointment on a two-year contract; the primary German to take to the touchline since Udo Lattek in 1981, Flick had taken a yr off from soccer after an detached two years main Die Mannschaft, as Barca struggled mentally and bodily throughout the remaining yr of Xavi Hernandez’s rollercoaster managerial stint.

Flick took over a squad that added Dani Olmo in a €55m switch, however few might have foreseen how La Masia merchandise, holdovers from the “palancas” madness of 2022, and even arrivals from the Bartomeu period would attain new ranges underneath the Heidelberg native. Flick has garnered each notoriety and plaudits for his unflinching dedication to a 4-2-3-1 formation, typified by a wildly-risky excessive line – one that almost price his staff a spot within the Copa del Rey remaining, and did price them a berth within the Champions League remaining in Munich.

Picture through Getty Photos

However to name this technique “cussed” or “impractical” misses the purpose. Barcelona don’t deal in pragmatism; the previous two managers who even mildly embraced it, Xavi and Ernesto Valverde, didn’t full three seasons on the membership, amidst scorn from the entorno that made its displeasure seen within the pages of SPORT or on the radio waves of RAC1. 

Barcelona are usually not Barcelona with out proactivity, idealism, or depth, qualities that – for one cause or one other – had regularly disappeared over the previous decade. That Flick has rehabilitated this picture in a single season may very well be interpreted as unhealthy information for everybody else.

Contemplate that at one level in Sunday’s seven-goal thriller at Montjuic, Actual Madrid didn’t depart its half of the pitch for 23 minutes and 53 seconds. Granted, this determine factors to Madrid’s season-long incapacity to manage the centre of the park amid the retirement of Toni Kroos. Nevertheless it additionally speaks to Barcelona’s resilience, a gaggle of gamers younger sufficient to not know any higher. The Blaugrana didn’t care about falling two objectives behind to 2 Kylian Mbappé strikes – similar to they didn’t care about going 2-0 all the way down to Atletico Madrid within the Copa del Rey semifinals, or after they went 2-0 all the way down to Inter Milan in each legs of the Champions League semis.

Picture through Alex Caparros / Getty Photos

“The staff’s mentality has improved rather a lot,” Pedri mentioned post-match.

Pedri and Frenkie de Jong characterize Flick’s most popular double pivot, the previous taking part in injury-free, world-class soccer after three seasons of health struggles, the latter profiting from accidents to the 2 Marcs, Bernal then Casado, to look extra just like the Ivan Rakitic successor for whom Barcelona’s earlier regime had splashed all that money. 

However forward of them are extra success tales. Raphinha’s brace in opposition to Actual Madrid took his aim tally on the season to 18, 5 greater than in his first two seasons in Spain mixed; the boldness Flick instilled in Raphinha instantly upon getting the Barcelona job has modified the Brazilian’s profession. The coach’s “time sharing” settlement with Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres was a raffle that paid off; Torres led the road expertly as Barca gained the Copa del Rey, and he supplied three first-half assists within the Clasico whereas 36-year-old Lewandowski continued to get well from damage. It stays to be seen if Lewa provides to his 25 objectives within the league, his private greatest since arriving in Spain.

Lamine Yamal… Have you learnt how powerful that is for me, as an Atletico supporter? I obtained an 18-month reprieve from Lionel Messi just for this menace to point out up. He’s actually the very best dribbler in Europe, by amount and high quality; he oozes charisma, he has unshakable confidence, and he has a concern of nothing. Lamine Yamal’s equalising aim on Sunday exhibits that he’s bettering as a finisher, too – what’s stopping him from being the world’s greatest participant proper as he turns 18?

Even with the heroics of Barcelona’s entrance three, Actual Madrid actually ought to have made it 4-4 on 90 minutes, however Castilla call-up Victor Munoz missed from shut vary, prompting heaps of on-line abuse from always-empathetic Madridistas. Culers in the meantime imagine the match ought to have ended 5-3 after Fermin Lopez scored a cracking aim a couple of minutes after Munoz’s miss, however a contemporary controversy arose after a “thank God” was heard within the VAR room within the strategy of disallowing the aim for a Fermin handball. I like this age of conspiracy theories and mass mistrust during which we dwell.

Nonetheless, this Clasico had all of it – a number of VAR checks, one other Mbappe hat trick in one among soccer’s greatest video games, Pau Cubarsi taking part in practically an hour by means of intense ache prompted by a abdomen bug, Gavi completely clattering Raul Asencio within the remaining phases. However when Hernandez Hernandez’s whistle blew for the ultimate time, it served as affirmation that in LaLiga 2024/25, no person might work out methods to cease Hansi Flick’s FC Barcelona.

 

Jeremy Beren could be discovered on social media right here, and for those who’re hungry for extra, discover their wonderful work right here.





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