Flick says Barca winning without Yamal is a sign
Hansi Flick believes Barcelona's run of four straight victories without Lamine Yamal in its ranks shows the extent to which it has improved this season.
Yamal has not featured since the international break earlier this month, having aggravated a groin issue when featuring in Spain's FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkiye.
But the Blaugrana have shaken off his absence to win four games in a row, maintaining their unbeaten start to the season in LaLiga as well as earning a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United in their UEFA Champions League opener.
Barca recovered from a goal down to beat Real Oviedo 3-1 in LaLiga's midweek round, with Eric Garcia, Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo scoring in the second half.
Flick said: "It's good for the team. We have made the right decisions, the level of the team has improved. But I think it shows that we have a fantastic team."
Barca has won 66.7 per cent of its games without Yamal since he broke into the first team, a slight drop from a 70.6 per cent figure when he is involved.
Amid a busy run, Flick shuffled his pack with Frenkie de Jong and Lewandowski coming off the bench, but he was delighted to see the latter find himself on the scoresheet.
"Not only 11 play. Then there are changes and the players who come on have to help to change the dynamic," Flick added.
"That's what Lewandowski did, and it's important that he not only goes out to score goals, but also to help the team."
Lewandowski has now scored against 21 of the 25 opponents he has faced in LaLiga - 72 goals in total – failing only against Almeria, Las Palmas (both four matches), Leganes (two matches), and Levante (one match).
The Poland international understood why he was limited to 25 minutes plus stoppage-time, saying: "I did what I always do. Hansi did not ask me for anything special.
"Every three days you have a game, we have to manage all the minutes and know how to rotate. If we win, we can say that we have done things well."
Barca is back in action against Real Sociedad on Monday (AEST) before hosting Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League next week, with both games being played at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys at Montjuic after a further delay to the Camp Nou renovations.
