Barcelona suffered a humbling 4-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final tie on Thursday. The Catalans will need to overturn that four-goal deficit if they are to defend the title they won last season, with the second leg coming up at the Spotify Camp Nou.
As per Marca, head coach Hansi Flick gave his reaction to the defeat during his post-match press conference. He understood that his side were nowhere near their best at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
“We didn’t play well in the first half, we didn’t play as a team. The distance between them and us was big. We have not pressed. And in the first 45 minutes we learned a great lesson. The end has been better. We have two more halves and we will fight. If we win 2-0 in every half… we will need our fans at home.”
Despite the defeat and performance, Flick wanted to make it clear that he is not unhappy with his players.
“I’m not disappointed with the team. I’m happy with the team’s season. We’ve had a lot of injuries. Losing is also part of the game. It was a painful defeat, but I’m proud of the team. We have to learn the lesson. They were hungrier to score. And that’s what I want to be like. We didn’t do it in the first 45 minutes. But the team is young, but I don’t make excuses.”
Flick: VAR stoppage is a mess
Flick was also asked about the decision to rule out Pau Cubarsi’s goal after an eight-minute VAR check.
“We started with the yellow cards, the first action on Balde was. Sure. It would have been all different if he showed it. By not doing so, you invite them to play like this. It’s a mess. They have to wait seven minutes, oh come on. They find something in this seven minutes? OK. When I see this situation, it was clear no offside. Maybe they could see something different. Then tell us. There is no communication. It’s so bad here.”