A satisfied Hansi Flick spoke to the media at a press conference after FC Barcelona's resounding victory in the Catalan derby against Espanyol (3-1). Although he was generally satisfied with his team's victory, he did make clear his discontent with the level shown at certain moments in the second half.

"A derby is always complicated, in the first half we showed a good level, but in general we didn't play as we usually do, we lost too many balls and it penalized us in the second half," began the coach, who later sent a strong warning to his players ahead of Wednesday's clash against Red Star.

"For today, okay, I can understand that we lose a little concentration. But we need more strength for Wednesday"

However, he did value that "the important thing is the victory and I would highlight the concentration of all the players in the first half, some of them very young. Then we dropped the level in the second, it's normal, we've had a great season."

The rotations of the first team

On the tough competition in the midfield after the recovery of the injured, Flick said that it is a "blessed problem... We will play with six midfielders... No, I'm joking. I'm very happy to have more players available, but we have to be careful with Gavi, who is coming back from injury, like Frenkie, Fermín and Dani. I'm very happy with Dani's two goals. But Fermín also has that arrival."

In addition, he clarified why he decided that Lewandowski and Lamine would play the 90' ​​and Raphinha would not be substituted until the end. "I didn't want to make too many changes in the second half. We've lowered the tension. Sometimes I do change the forwards, but today I focused on the midfielders. We wanted to focus on that. Today the game went differently," he commented.

On the other hand, he did not want to go into detail about Koundé's substitution and only stated that "it was my decision," while he justified the absence of Ferran Torres due to the tragedy in his homeland by saying that "I understand that he is not fit to play or come to see us. There are more important things than football in these circumstances."

Dani Olmo and his fears for the team

Flick also celebrated Dani Olmo's double, stating that "he is not 100% yet and we had already planned for him to play for only one hour because he is coming back from an injury. Today we won in part thanks to his goals. It is great news to be able to count on him again," later clarifying that his substitution had nothing to do with any physical problem but because "whenever they come back from injury we decide to take care of them."

Finally, he made it clear that he is not afraid of any footballing factor in his team, reaffirming his confidence in his squad. "I don't suffer, but I am very aware of the team. But I have great confidence in the team. People are satisfied with how the team is playing," he concluded.