Barcelona’s primary focus for the season remains winning the LaLiga title, according to coach Hansi Flick, ahead of their Champions League match against Atalanta tonight. The Spanish club has already secured a spot in the last 16 of the competition.
Barcelona, with five wins and one loss in the new format, sit second in the standings with 18 points, three behind leaders Liverpool, who face 19th-placed PSV Eindhoven.
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Regardless of the result against Europa League champions Atalanta, Flick’s team is through to the knockout stages and can now shift focus to closing the seven-point gap to LaLiga leaders Real Madrid.
“For me, LaLiga is the most important thing we can win, and we can aspire to it all season long,” the German manager told a press conference on Tuesday.
“Obviously there’s other competitions such as the Super Cup, the Copa del Rey or the Champions League, which is the most difficult to win because there are many great teams competing.
“We want to finish this first phase in the second place because it’s a good situation for the next steps in the competition.”
Serie A side Atalanta are seventh in the Champions League standings with 14 points.
“It’s always difficult to play against Italian teams because they defend great,” Flick said.
“Atalanta play one against one on the entire field. You’re always under pressure in the build-up, and when they win the ball they’re able to transition very fast. They always play with one contact, so we have to be ready for that.”
Barcelona are without defender Andreas Christensen, who suffered a calf injury during Monday’s training session and will be out for around three weeks, the club said, opens new tab earlier on Tuesday.
Flick has also made his intentions clear on who he trusts as his number one goalkeeper, favouring Wojciech Szczesny over Inaki Pena after both duelled for the role following the season-ending injury to Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
“Number one, a goalkeeper, is a special position. So yes, I can say it was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make since I’ve been here,” said the German coach.
“I know that when I say something good about Wojciech it seems that maybe Inaki is weaker, but I don’t like this. My job is to make a decision.
“For me, Szczesny is an experienced player, he also has a great personality. But both are great goalkeepers, and I have decided together with my staff to go with Szczesny… In the past Inaki did a great job but now this is the decision I made.”