Barcelona’s manager, Hansi Flick, said he was satisfied with his team’s 1-1 draw in St. The Blaugrana saw Newcastle United dominate the game for most of the game, but will return to the Camp Nou with a draw.
Despite the result, there was a clear acceptance that Newcastle were the better team on the night, with Barcelona looking tired in the latter stages. Flick promised a ‘different Barcelona’ in the second leg.
“We’ve had a lot of games in the past, with injured players. Bernal and Pedri came out of a period of inactivity. We need to improve, that’s obvious, but the good thing for us is the result. After being beaten 1-0, it was nice to be able to come back and get a draw.
“We will see a different Barça in the return leg,” he told Movistar+, via MD.
‘We lost the ball too many times’ – Flick
His biggest frustration with Barcelona’s performance was with him, feeling they gave the Magpies a leg up. However, he is satisfied with their protection.
“We didn’t play well with the ball; we lost a lot of possession, and that’s what Newcastle want. We knew they were quick when they passed the ball. It wasn’t easy, but I’m very happy with my team, especially the defense; we defended very well on the pitch. The two defenders did a great job.”
“Maybe we were tired, but we played a very difficult game in this situation with this team. I am very happy and I appreciate what I saw in defense, and we need to play better with the ball. If you told me that the result would be 1-1 before, I would have been happy.”
Ronald Araujo right back
Before the game Eric Garcia was expected to start at right back, but he was brought to the bench due to muscle discomfort. Instead of switching Joao Cancelo to right back and Gerard Martin to left back with Ronald Araujo in central defence, their natural positions, Araujo came in for Garcia in a direct exchange.
“He did his job. We didn’t want to change too many positions; it was clear that we wanted to play with Cubarsi and Gerard as defenders, so I asked Ronald if he could play at the back, he had a good game. In the end, he is tired after running a lot and he didn’t recover in the right time, but we have players in the right condition to compensate.”
Xavi Espart made his first start for Araujo at the end of the season after suffering from cramp.
“There are no excuses, we had enough players here and you can see, when Xavi arrived, he was very good. That’s what I want to see, and I’m happy about it.”
🚨 Xavi Espart: “It was a dream to be able to play for the first time with the first team of Barça. I will continue to work to get more opportunities.” 🎙️
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 10, 2026
‘We have to control Pedri’s minutes’ – Hansi Flick
There were several questions about Barcelona’s fitness after the game, with a tired Pedri, Marc Bernal and Araujo all coming off, appearing to be struggling.
“At the moment we need to rest; the job of the players is to rest and prepare well for Sunday’s game. We will have a few days to prepare, there will be no rest, but that is normal. When you play at this level in the Champions League and La Liga, it is normal to have games every two or three days, and we have to adapt and do things properly these days.”
Pedri, Barcelona’s man of the night, was withdrawn with 20 minutes to go.
“We have to manage his playing time well, and with Pedri, we have to be careful. He was injured twice this season, he just came back from the last one, and of course everyone wants to play him because he is a player who controls the ball.”
Barcelona host Sevilla on Sunday night, before hosting Newcastle at the Camp Nou next Wednesday in the winner-takes-all second leg.
