Hansi Flick: Why Barcelona Lost Against AS Monaco And The Solution

Barcelona coach, Hansi Flick, felt Eric García’s early red card was the turning point in Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Monaco and insisted his side are strong enough to progress in the new-look Champions League.

García was sent off just 10 minutes into the match for a last-man tackle. Following this, goals from Maghnes Akliouche and George Ilenikhena, with Lamine Yamal scoring the equalizer in between, helped secure three points for the Ligue 1 side at the Stade Louis II stadium.

The loss was Barça’s first defeat under Flick following an impressive start to the campaign, which has so far yielded five successive wins in La Liga.

“I think we defended with a lot of passion,” the German coach said in a news conference after the game. “The goal from Lamine brought us back to 1-1. We had chances. In the end, we tried to stay in the game with a compact defense, close together, but you can also see that [Monaco] brings a lot of players in with huge speed. It was not easy to defend.

“After the red card, the game changed totally. The positive things are we tried to defend as a team and attack as a team. We have chances, but they deserve the 2-1 so we have to accept that.

“I am not worried. We have to analyze this, but as I say to the team now, ‘Heads up,’ because they were a little disappointed in the dressing room.”

Barcelona will face Young Boys in their next Champions League match on October 1, and they still have upcoming games against Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, and Atalanta, among others, in the competition.

The new format will see the top eight teams in the league phase progress directly to the round of 16, with the sides finishing between the ninth and 24th entering a knockout round and 12 teams being eliminated.

Despite opening with a defeat to Monaco, Flick has no doubts that Barça will qualify for the next phase.

“No,” he responded when asked if Thursday’s loss was further proof that Barça has a problem with the Champions League, having failed to reach the knockout rounds in two of the last three years.

“You see the situation today. After 10 minutes, the red card. It changed our idea and our match plan. We have to accept this. It happens.

“I think we are strong enough to play a good Champions League. We have seven matches, and I think we will win many matches, and in the end, we reach our goals.”

What caused the huge difference in the match

The game changed when García brought down Takumi Minamino after the former Liverpool forward intercepted a short pass from Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in the early stages of the match.

Ter Stegen said the mistake was a misunderstanding between the two and claimed Barça deserved a point.

“Yes, for sure [the red card conditioned the game],” he told reporters. “There was a misunderstanding in that situation. I feel bad for Eric because it has cost him. Then we have to play for 80 minutes a player down.

“It should not have happened, but it does happen from time to time in football. It hurts because even with 10 men we showed up.

“The game was not under control, but we showed up. At the end of the day, we lost by one goal, the second one, which came from nowhere and wasn’t deserved in that moment.”

Positives to take out of the game

Among the positives in defeat for Barça was the return of Ansu Fati, who returned from injury to make his first appearance of the season.

“I saw him in the last weeks of training, and when we started the preseason, I saw him different,” Flick said.

“I spent some time at Brighton last season, and I saw him in training and a match, and here he is different. He’s focused, and he brings his quality to the pitch. He needs some time now, but he will get this.”

Fati continues to hold the record as the youngest scorer in Champions League history, having at the age of 17 years and 40 days against Inter Milan in 2019.

However, he observed from the bench as his teammate Yamal achieved the milestone of being the second youngest scorer in the competition at 17 years and 68 days old.

Yamal now has four goals and four assists in six games in all competitions this season, which has seen opposing teams start to double up on him or treat him differently.

As a result, Flick removed him early in Monaco to save him for Sunday’s trip to Villarreal in La Liga.

“Lamine today he tried a lot,” Flick explained. “It was a tough match for him, they [were] attacking him hard. This is the way. He has to adapt to this. For Pau [Cubarsí] and him, [taking them off] was also to think about Sunday.”