Barcelona players express concerns about Flick’s tactics after Atletico defeat – report

The 4-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid on Thursday night has seemingly opened up a can of worms at FC Barcelona.

The heavy loss at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano leaves the Blaugrana with a huge challenge ahead of the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final tie on 3 March.

As reported previously, the performance and the result raised some concerns for manager Hansi Flick, who was far from pleased with the attitude and intensity of his players in the first period.

Barcelona players air concerns about tactics

Now, according to The Athletic, after hearing what Flick had to say before training on Friday, the Barcelona players chose to speak up about some of their concerns with tactics.

The squad felt that sticking to the manager’s usual tactics – intense pressing and high defensive line – was not ideal at the Metropolitano as they felt the conditions were not right for it.

The players felt it was the right time to voice their concerns, considering that this was not the first time that the team had found itself in such a situation – the Club Brugge game, where they were able to salvage a 3-3 draw, the Sevilla clash, which they lost 4-1, being other instances.

Moreover, a number of players in the squad felt that the loss to Atletico Madrid highlighted how hard it was to successfully deploy Flick’s tactics without two key members of the team – Raphinha and Pedri – being unavailable.

The main message that the Blaugrana stars intended to convey to Flick was that they did not want to entirely abandon his tactical approach, which has yielded great success.

But instead, they wanted the manager to look for a more pragmatic approach, especially when it comes to the big games, as well as adaptability to the players available.