“We have to accept that Lamine will not play”

Barcelona and theAtlético de Madrid play the most important match of the day this Saturday. First against second, tied on points but with a game in hand for the 'red and whites'. The 'Blaugranas' must therefore win.

“It's a great match against one of the best in La Liga. We are first in La Liga and second in the Champions League. We lost points and it was difficult in the last match against Leganés and also against Las Palmas. We have respect for them. In football, the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. This is what happened and we have to accept it,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said in the pre-match press conference.

The Barcelona coach has full confidence in his team: “We are a young team and we have to improve. We are fighting to arrive with options at the end of the season. This is what we do. We know it won't be easy. We have to start fighting to play against Atlético.”

Flick will be without Lamine Yamal on Saturday: “We have to accept that he is injured. Another teammate will take his place. We are ready. We have several options. The decision has not been made and we must wait.”

The 'Blaugrana' coach did not hesitate to praise his counterpart Diego Pablo Simeone: “700 matches with Atlético is incredible. He did a fantastic job. I have a lot of respect for him. I like his way of experiencing football. The team looks like him. I respect his work, but we want to win.”

For Flick it is clear that they need to end their losing streak: “What I feel here with the fans is that they know how the team is doing. We lost five important players. I think that the team has improved a lot and is focused on what we want to achieve. We have to fight until the end of the season. We want to win titles, but it's not easy. We're going to fight every game from now on.”

“When the 90 minutes are up, we say to ourselves that we can change a lot of things. At the moment, against Leganés, we perhaps had more chances. Ferran played very well. We can discuss, but we made the decision to change Lewandowski. Our job is to make these kinds of decisions. We will see how to play against Atlético,” he explained.