Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has admitted that his team is not strong enough to defend, answering questions about the team’s mentality and chances of winning the Champions League. The Blaugrana qualified for the Round of 16 on Wednesday, but lost to both Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea in the same pot.
Flick said ‘of course everyone wants to win the Champions League’, and that his side will be working towards it every day. However, he refused to qualify it as an ‘obsession’ as stated. One of the obstacles that could hinder them is their weak defense this season. Barcelona’s strong back-to-back record was brought to Flick’s attention, but he saw it as proof of mistakes.
“We conceded a lot of goals, that’s why we had comebacks. Our idea is to always believe in ourselves, but we have to do things better, especially at the beginning of the games. We have to stay ready from the beginning, and that’s what I want to see in the team. It’s always fun to watch Barça games, but in the end, we have a lot of energy to work for, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Rub in Champions League form – ‘We have to do better’
Regarding the way they played in the Champions League, Flick wanted to convey the message that they are not doing as well as they should.
“I’ve said it before, we have to improve, work on many things, but in the end we finished the first round in fifth place, and if you think about how we started, which was not good at all, after the game with Chelsea they didn’t think we could be in the top 8 and we’re in 5th place. And that’s what I told the team. I’m happy but we have to do things.”
Flick removes election talk
Last week, Flick was asked about President Joan Laporta calling the election, and explained that he was very happy to work with Laporta and the Director of Football Deco. However, when he was asked if the new president who will take over will put his future at risk, he refused to participate.
“Wow. This is the future. For now, I’m here and I’m happy to work for this club. We’ll see. I can’t answer these questions with 100% certainty. As I said before, it’s very important that we have stability in this club, and everything around the team is going very well.”
Flick: “Everyone wants to win the Champions League because it is the best competition, see you one day in space in the stadium. We are on it and how we can improve.”
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 30, 2026
“We don’t have a lot of money to sign players, and everything we do is very good. We develop players from La Masia, the atmosphere in the club is good, the fans support us, there is a strong connection. It’s all about stability, and I think that’s what’s best for this club in the future.”
Flick has become very popular at Barcelona following his huge success in his first season, and if his progress is matched by that of Laporta, it could be a huge voting campaign. The election is scheduled to take place on the second weekend of March.
