Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-2 on Sunday in La Liga to restore their four-point lead at the top of the table but Hansi Flick wasn’t completely happy after the game.
The Barcelona boss said that although he was pleased with the result he did want to see improvements in midweek when the Catalans face Newcastle in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
“A lot of things were good, but at times we did not play with the conviction I want to see in my team. This is a huge week, we need to be at 100%
on Wednesday because otherwise we are out of the UCL. We need to do things better,” he told reporters.
“There are many things going well, but there are situations on the pitch that aren’t fantastic. It’s five goals and three points. We have many games left, but we need to play faster. We need to focus; Newcastle is a very good team.
“When we lost possession, we could have pressed better. Now the Champions League is coming up, and it’s important to do well. Dani had a great game, Espart, Cancelo… but I think we could have done much better.”
Flick did go on to single out Joao Cancelo for praise after seeing the full-back play a key role in the win.
“Cancelo has needed some time to adapt. In the last few matches he’s been fantastic,” he added.
“He’s an incredible player technically. His goal, his role in the first goal to draw the penalty… and also his play to play the offside trap. Cancelo has been the right choice.”
