Barcelona, who gained a positive result in the league last weekend by rotating their lineups, once again showed their strength in the Champions League this midweek. In the 5-0 victory over Bernese youngsters, Barcelona not only won all three points, but also showed excellent teamwork and offensive firepower. After the match, Barcelona manager Frick commented on the team's performance and answered questions from the media.
On the game, Frick said, "We had to be a little stronger in the opening stages and more energetic overall. But as the game progressed we got better and better. It was important to get all three points and the 5-0 scoreline was well deserved. We realized that we lacked our usual confidence at the beginning, but then got it back, and we're happy with that, but have to keep working hard."
Commenting on his team's big win, Frick believes, "Nobody knows how this new system of the Champions League will turn out, but it's always good to get more clean sheets. We want to do better in every game, there are some areas that can be improved and we can better fulfill certain potentials."
Rafinha had a great game, to which Flick said, "Rafinha played very well, but we can't talk about just one player. It's important to play like a team, and Rafinha can only play well if his teammates around him also play well."
On the reason for Fathi's substitution at center midfield, Frick explained, "We wanted to give Pedri a rest but weren't sure we could bring De Jong on that early, so we switched to Fathi at the beginning of the midfield. Then Frankie (De Jong) went to that position and we made that decision based on the game."
Regarding the rest schedule for the players, Frick said, "The players deserve two days off. They give a lot to the team and they deserve it."
Speaking about Yamal, Fricker emphasized, "We don't rely on one player, but several. There may be changes, we can't think about whether a player wants to play or not."
On the new Champions League format, Frick said, "From the beginning, the team's philosophy was to go to the opponent's goal whenever they had the chance. In the last minutes, I wanted to control the ball more and save physical energy, but the players wanted to enjoy the game and score goals. But we should also learn to be cautious, but I'm happy with the team's performance."
Commenting on the team's form, Frick said, "In every game we want to do better. It's important that the team wants to perform better. Because we have a lot of games until the end of the year that are exciting and important, we have to do as well as we can."
On De Jong's performance since his comeback, Frick was positive: "It was a very important step for him to get back in the team and play a few minutes. He needed to be on the pitch earlier, but had to wait. Maybe he ran a little bit too much, but it helped him to find his feet and adapt to the pressure of the opponents. He has done well in training and I know that he was a very high level player before his injury. We have to help him and support him to get back to his old level, and all of us will do everything we can to help him, which he deserves. He is very professional and we have to be patient with him."
