FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick said he was ‘frustrated’ with his players for blowing a two-goal lead against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semifinals.
The Catalans fell 2-0 down in Montjuic inside six minutes thanks to goals by Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann for the visitors.
And while Barca rallied back to lead 4-2, they once again allowed Diego Simeone’s men to net twice and tie the first leg of the last four tie 4-4 when all was said and done.
“After what has happened, what I can say is that I am disappointed with the result. We played great football and created a lot of chances after conceding two goals at the beginning. But in the end we conceded too many chances, they are very good in attack and you can’t give them so many chances. At half-time I had already warned that we couldn’t give them so much,” Flick revealed post-match.
“It’s not easy now to explain the match. We are disappointed, but the game was beautiful. I focus more on this to maintain the confidence of the players. It can’t be on what happened, it seemed too easy but we were facing a wonderful team. They have a lot of power and it is not easy to defend them. We have seen that we just need to give them an opportunity for them take advantage of it,” the German added.
With the deciding leg set to be contested at the Metropolitano on April 2, Flick hopes that his team plays like the “75 or 80 minutes where we have dominated”.
“I expect this. I hope we win, we have to talk about the goals this week, but we have a very young team and they have improved a lot this season. After the break [in March for internationals], everything will be possible. We can win,” Flick insisted.
Back in December, Barca of course blew a lead against Atleti, which then came back to steal all three points in La Liga via a 2-1 comeback win.
On this occasion, though, Flick sees differences between the league and cup fixtures.
“It is a cup match and all the teams like this competition. All the teams try to find solutions and do different things. We are also strong in possession, but they have a fantastic team,” he began explaining.
“We defended well for 75 minutes, and then we failed. The fourth goal we conceded seemed incredible to me, we will have to talk about it. But the most important thing is how we play, I think the fans liked it, and it’s important for me to know that the team is confident, especially with how young they are
“It gives me confidence for the future. I’m sad and frustrated for the last ten minutes because for a while we were at the highest level. I’m happy with 95% of things, but not with the other five. That is why we have to work,” Flick concluded.
For Barca, attention now turns back to the league and its hosting of Real Sociedad on Sunday afternoon in Catalonia.