Barcelona has just completed a series of 4 matches that can be considered the greatest, most thrilling, most unpredictable and most dramatic in just 15 days that club-level football has ever witnessed.
From April 26 to May 11, everyone witnessed the Copa del Rey final, two Champions League semi-finals and El Clasico in La Liga, with a total of 25 goals.
Hundreds of millions of viewers around the world have witnessed the miraculous performances of teenage genius Lamine Yamal. As for Barcelona, they won the Copa del Rey and touched the La Liga title.
For neutral people, this is the perfect remedy for worries about extreme tactics in modern football. Even legends in the sport, such as Thierry Henry, have recently admitted that they are tired of football.
"Only you can decide whether we are the team to watch in Europe. For me, it's not always fun. Sometimes I had to endure a lot.
This journey, which my team and I started last summer, is not over yet. I know we need to improve a lot in defense. I, my team and many other players know the importance of better defense.
And that has nothing really to do with the four guys playing in the final defense. We need much greater defensive stability. Defending like us is not easy and we all make mistakes, but we have to learn and play much better" - Hansi Flick said.
Flick's biggest criticism of his players, since August last year, is that they always want to attack blindly at the end of the game instead of maintaining the advantage.
Back in November last year, after losing to Real Sociedad and drawing with Celta Vigo despite leading by 2 goals, Flick said: "This is a very young team and we need to be more careful in some specific situations.
When we were 2-0 up at Celta, we needed to defend much better. We always want to attack, but sometimes just controlling the ball and protecting the lead is enough."
There is another aspect that Flick wants to change, although only neutral people hope that does not happen. For Barcelona fans, they will be extremely excited about what he proposes to improve.
The classic match against Real Madrid last weekend saw Barcelona lead by 2 goals. This is the sixth time they have fallen into this situation in the 2024-2025 season (against Benfica, Atletico Madrid twice, Real Madrid, Celta Vigo and Inter Milan). Surprisingly, they are unbeaten in all those matches.
Flick wants to put aside that disagreement. The German strategist did not want to stress and take risks when he had to continue to overcome the situation to let the opponent take the lead.
When this season ends, Barcelona will only lose one of the four titles they can win, even though it's the Champions League. There was a small detail that was haunting Flick from the defeat of Inter Milan when they took 3-2 and the final door with the remaining 2 minutes. That was when Barcelona breakthrough and Yamal chose to finish instead of keeping the ball.
The teenage tycoon smashed his efforts into the post along Yann Sommer's goal, completely defeating the Swiss goalkeeper. If the ball goes into the net, Yamal will almost automatically become the most promising candidate for the Ballon d'Or award.
Of course, after what he has shown, no one can blame Yamal. But ironically, after Yamal's shot hit the post, Inter scored an equalizer, took the match into extra time and eventually won. If Yamal kept the ball to extend the time, will Barcelona go to Munich for a few more weeks and win the treble? Absolutely possible.
Flick has always shown his pride in Barcelona and admiration for the players. He always wants them to play beautiful and attractive football, but also wants the small details of spirit, intensity, cornhence and cruelty to be upgraded.
Flick, like all the other great managers, is planning for the next campaign at a time when others have just begun to celebrate the current victory. And he wants one of the most dedicated teams to become a stronger version, less struggling and savagely blocking opponents.
