Furious Flick slams reports of Barcelona divisions
Hansi Flick has fiercly denied rumours of internal divisions at Barcelona, dismissing claims of sporting director Deco pressuring him to play Lamine Yamal after he was allegedly late to training.
Yamal is back in training and will be part of Flick's squad for Barcelona's LaLiga match against Girona on Sunday (AEDT), offering a boost to the injury-hit team.
With Real Madrid not playing until Monday (AEDT), Barca has the chance to go top of the LaLiga table, at least for 24 hours, if it wins the three points against Girona at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
However, much of the pre-match talk has not been about the game, after reports that Yamal went unpunished for apparently arriving late to training thanks to Deco's intervention.
"I don't know where you have got that information from, but at the end, I'm sorry about the choice of words, but it's totally b*******, OK?" Flick said.
"I never, never was asked that. I really appreciate how they [the board] believe in my work. They would never ask me something like this.
"So, I can say it's b*******, and if someone said this, he's lying."
Barcelona will be without Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Raphinha, Joan Garcia and Marc-Andre ter Stegen for the Girona match, while Yamal and Fermin Lopez have been passed fit, but not for a full 90 minutes.
"I cannot change it. We have to find solutions," Flick said of his squad's injury woes. "We might have to rely on players from La Masia [the academy]. We will see what happens."
Barcelona is in need of a win after heading into the international break under pressure, having lost consecutive matches to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla in LaLiga, going down 4-1 in the latter.
"It's about attitude and mentality on the pitch," Flick added. "We are Barca.
"Our fans want to see us fighting for every situation. Last season we won three titles, but this is a new season. We have to start now with the same attitude, and I think we will fight tomorrow."
