Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said his team must learn from defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid and focus on beating Deportivo Alavés in La Liga on Saturday 31 October. Barcelona had opened the season with 11 straight wins across La Liga and the Champions League before those two losses.
Flick addresses the recent defeats
Flick said at his pre-match press conference, "As I have always said, we are facing a very long road, and there is nothing that cannot be fixed. We lost to Real Madrid, and no one likes losing, but we have to deal with it. I think we could have won that match, and we had chances, but we must accept the defeat and learn from it"
He continued: "Nothing has changed, and I have not lost a single ounce of my enthusiasm to coach this wonderful team. We won the first 11 matches, then we suffered two defeats. We have to return to victories, for that is our job"
His commitment to the method ran deeper still. "I am convinced that our idea is the best for this team, and we will continue working with it until the end. We are all convinced of that"
Absences for the Alavés match
On the injuries piling up, the German spelled out the scale of the problem: "We have Jules Koundé out of contention, along with Marc Casadó, wait, Xavi Espart, Dani Olmo, Eric García and Andreas Christensen. It is not easy to deal with all these absences, and we have to find solutions. For tomorrow's match, the matter is clear for us: the most important thing is to collect the three points"
Talks with Laporta and Deco
His relationship with the board was proceeding as normal, he said, and the support would not alter how he works. "I spoke with the president and with Deco, and of course everything is fine. It is a nice gesture, but I know the situation. I know we lost two very important matches within a single week, but I am doing my job in the best possible way"
Raphinha and fitness concerns
Flick made no secret of his frustration, with the forward having returned injured from the last international break, a worry hanging over his physical condition. "This is a topic I also discussed with Deco. Raphinha is a very important player for us, and after the last international break he returned injured. Certainly, this situation is not the best for us, but these are the things, and we cannot do anything about it"
Flick said: "I know that Raphinha is our captain here, and that the club lives in his heart, but he is also Brazilian, and when the national team calls him up he is present. Everyone wants to help the Brazil national team"
He concluded: "For me, I would be happy if we could control a little the number of minutes of his participation. We know that his travel back and forth from Singapore is not an ideal matter, but this is not a decision in my hands"
