After FC Barcelona's defeat against Osasuna at El Sadar (4-2), Hansi Flick spoke to the media at a press conference. The German coach was more self-critical than ever and gave the keys to his team's first defeat in LaLiga, although he was positive about what is to come.
Regarding the development of the match, the German assured that the Blaugranas made more mistakes than usual, asserting that the rotations could have influenced the team's poor performance. "It was not a good match. We made too many mistakes, especially in the first half...
"... We made a lot of rotations and perhaps that was one of the reasons, but they were necessary, there are many matches in this part of the calendar and some players had accumulated a lot of minutes"
However, he maintained that these radical changes in the starting eleven were necessary, recalling the importance of managing the workload of his players well. "I have to be responsible, on Tuesday we have a very important match. We are on the right track," he said.
The reasons for the defeat
Despite the adverse result, Flick wanted to highlight the performance and attitude of the players during the second half. "I feel that we could have won if we had played well from the start. In the second half we saw that when we played well and moved the ball, we created chances," he commented, making it clear that Barça will improve after the international break in October.
"After the international break we will recover several players, and then we will have more options to choose from in each game"
In the same way, the Blaugrana coach wanted to remember the current situation of the squad, which is extremely depleted by injuries. "The many rotations are not an excuse, because we had no alternative. If you take a look at the squad right now, we have only three midfielders and one centre-back playing as a midfielder. It's not easy, but we accept it"
The refereeing controversies and the substitution of Lewandowski
Regarding the unusual foul not called on Pau Víctor before the second goal, Hansi said that "from what they told me, there could have been a foul at the start of the play for his second goal, but the referee has decided that there wasn't. It's part of the past and I don't want to think about it anymore."
In addition, he 'played a game of distraction' with the clear penalty on Lamine Yamal, who fell down in the area after an aggressive tackle by Bretones. "I'm sitting out and I don't have a good view. It could have been a foul, but it's the referee who decides, and there's also the VAR. Things are like that and I don't give it any more importance," he concluded.
Finally, he took the 'iron' out of the substitution of Lewandowski, who left the field in the 70th minute with the score 2-1 against. "I changed him because he also needs to rest. All players need to rest. That's how it is. Robert is strong, but every three days we have a match and we do it for his good," he concluded.