Hansi Flick reflects upon Barca's first win of the 2024/25 campaign

Hansi Flick's era has started with a bang, a 4-1 win in the penalties during a nail-biting encounter against one of the best European clubs, Manchester City. As the preparations showed, the new FC Barcelona made a tremendous effort to replicate what had been promised in the new Barca project.

Hansi Flick reflects upon Barca's first win of the 2024/25 campaign

Taking the lead two times against mastermind Pep Guardiola's side, that too with an almost full La Masia squad and the last cameo from Astralaga in the penalties, it couldn't have been better. As was demonstrated in Flick's choice not to hold any pre-match press conference, FC Barcelona has stood on the challenge.

Given the performance of Barcelona, even Pep Guardiola was seen in awe, and he couldn't resist appreciating Flick's squad. Pep said,

""I was very impressed with Flick's Barça. The season is long, but I loved them. The positional play is great; the wingers are wide, enter deep, and exploit spaces.""

- Hansi Flick

Even though it seemed to be a brilliant performance overall, upon reflecting on the match closely, Hansi Flick has pointed out a major issue in Barca's play, stating,

""We defend too far back. It's not what I like the most. We have to improve on that.""

- Hansi Flick

However, he didn't hold himself back, appreciating the young team's performance. Flick said,

""I am proud of the young players. We also had a fantastic goalkeeper. We were a team, and Ander was also important on penalties.""

- Hansi Flick

Being a firm believer in a team effort, the German manager again recounted the preference of the team overall as an individual, saying,

""I don't like to talk about individual players, it's a team, not individual players. If they play hard, it's what we want.""

- Hansi Flick

Overall, it was an extremely well-curated effort from the young FC Barcelona lineup that showed the guts to fight against one of the best lineups in modern football. Having got such a brilliant start, Barca would hope they can continue their winning momentum as they look forward to their upcoming campaign under Hansi Flick.