FC Barcelona could not beat Paris Saint-Germain (1-2) at Montjuïc in a match where the Blaugrana team went from strength to weakness. After a brilliant opening quarter of an hour, PSG matched the proceedings and the result before the break.
In the second half, Barça lost freshness in attack and defense. The changes did not have the effect expected by Hansi Flick and Gonçalo Ramos unbalanced the score in the 90th minute, in an offside position, but validated by VAR.
Despite the controversial refereeing decisions on the day, Flick, true to his custom, was self-critical of the work of his players. For the Heidelberg native, the key to the Blaugrana slump in the second half had to do with physical fatigue.
"We have seen that the players were a bit tired, but what we have to do is learn from the defeat," began the Barça coach in the post-match press conference.
Disappointment in the coaching staff and the Barça dressing room
In addition, Flick believes that the team had a "bad reading" of the match and did not find a way to manage the results. Ferran Torres put the 'culés' ahead in the 19th minute and Senny Mayulu equalized in the 38th minute.
"When you defend the 1-1 you have to play more intelligently at the end of the match and this has not happened. In a transition they have scored on us. We have to be more structured and cover all the spaces," explained the coach.
In that sense, he added: "We have not had the structure in the second half. We must last 90 minutes, the whole team has to defend, attack, be at a great level with the ball, take advantage of spaces, participate in possession...", said a Flick who valued the work done by Eric García in defense.
"We are disappointed. It's normal, because we wanted to show a better performance today"
Flick believes that PSG is still a step ahead and deserved to win
Similarly, Hansi Flick believes that Paris "deserved the victory" in a close match, but where Luis Enrique's team controlled the match better against a Barça that did not have a good day at Montjuïc.
"Today I don't think we can say that we are at the same level, but I believe in my team and today we have not shown our best version," argued the Heidelberg native. Wednesday's match was the German's fourth defeat in the Champions League with the Blaugrana team in 16 appearances, the first at home.
Regarding the controversial foul by Nuno Mendes on Lamine Yamal in the second half, which should have cost the Portuguese full-back a sending-off for a second yellow card, he warned: "We don't know if it would have changed things, but the referee has told me that the 8 (Fabián Ruiz) committed the foul."
"In PSG you could see that everyone knows how to take advantage of spaces, wants the ball... these are things to learn and improve"