BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Barcelona coach Hansi Flick praised his side’s cohesion and aggressive style ahead of their away match against Real Madrid on Saturday in La Liga.
Barca lead Real by three points at the top of the standings and are on a four-match winning streak across all competitions, including a recent 4-1 home victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
“We have our ideas. Our philosophy is to press high and make it hard for the opponent to play out. Too much space between the lines doesn’t work for us,” Flick told a press conference on Friday.
“The players are brilliant and continue to adapt from game to game. The changes have worked, I believe in the team, they have so much quality and that’s what we want to see.”
Flick added that he has not decided on the starting 11 for the El Clasico but hinted that Fermin Lopez could play an important role.
“I haven’t decided who will start or not, but you know that Fermin was involved in three goals (against Bayern),” Flick said.
“That’s exactly what we wanted to see from him and he’s shown that. We’re very happy that he’s come back from the injury and has already had such a good performance.”
Flick also praised 17-year-old Lamine Yamal’s performance this season.
“Specifically for the game against Bayern I wanted him to do one thing among many that he needed to do, which was to press (Alphonso) Davies from the last line into midfield because we knew how important he was when he started to attack,” Flick said.
“Yamal is a fantastic player with the ball, you could all appreciate that against Bayern.
“It’s an honour to see what Lamine did for all of us and it’s important that he can improve as a defender. And he’s doing that very well.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk)
