Barcelona Must Be At Their Best Against Real Madrid, Warns Flick Ahead Of El Clásico

‎Hansi Flick urged his Barcelona players to move past their Champions League semi-final exit and focus on a crucial La Liga Clasico against Real Madrid on Sunday.

‎Barcelona currently leads the Spanish top flight by four points over their rivals and defending champions, Real Madrid, with only four matches left in the season.

‎The Catalans were ousted in Europe on Tuesday by Inter Milan, ending dreams of a potential quadruple.

‎”We spoke about what they (the players) are thinking, what they are feeling, it’s important in a group that we speak about that,” Flick told a news conference Saturday.

‎”Everyone knows that in a Clasico, you have to be on your highest level; that’s what we have to do.

‎”We want to be active, we want to see the team (play) with intensity on the pitch, dominant as normal, and we know it’s a really fantastic team from Real (against us).”

‎Barcelona have won all three Clasicos played this season against Real Madrid. They started with a 4-0 victory in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu in October.

‎The Catalans then comfortably defeated Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in January and, most recently, bested them 3-2 after extra time in the Copa del Rey final in April.

‎Even if Barcelona lost, they would still be top of the table by a point, but Flick said his team was out to defeat Los Blancos again.

‎”We always go into the match to win the match, doesn’t matter about the table,” he added.

‎”(We’ll) focus on this match, give everything to get three points…

‎”The Clasico is important for our fans, everyone, for Barca, for the players, for me, my coaching staff, it’s great to play against them and compete against them.”

‎Balde and Casado Given Green light

‎Barcelona received a boost as Alejandro Balde and Marc Casado were cleared to play on Saturday after recovering from injuries.

‎Casado, a midfielder, had been sidelined for nearly two months due to a knee ligament injury, while Balde had been out for the past month with a hamstring issue.

‎Robert Lewandowski returned from injury to play as a substitute against Inter on Tuesday.

‎Flick said all three players were more likely to be on the bench on Sunday than to be selected as starters.

‎”After this match, we have three more matches,” noted the coach.