The German coach of Barcelona, Hansi Flick, expressed satisfaction with his team's victory against Athletic Club on a challenging field like San Mamés because, he noted, "it's not easy to win in Bilbao."
Athletic is a great team with great fans. It's impressive to win here with a clean sheet, they have a great team. It has been perfect. "Zero goals conceded and we won," commented the German coach in his assessment of the match.
For the Blaugrana coach, one of the key factors in achieving this victory was Pedri's entry onto the field. "He's a player who changes games. And today he changed the game. It gives you more control, and that's very good for us," he congratulated.
"Pedri makes players better." We played better in the second half than in the first. But the most important thing for me is that we are all fighting," he assessed.
Lamine Yamal was also decisive, scoring the only goal of the match, despite the fact that "he didn't have his best game, but you have already seen how important he is. He trains a lot in those situations, it's good to have him at this level." He decides matches with a single action," he stated.
"Keeping a clean sheet gives confidence to our philosophy. When we concede goals, people talk about the high line. They always talk about the defenders, but we all defend," Flick defended. "If we don't press high, they score goals on us." It doesn't matter where we set the line. "It's our philosophy, it's important," affirmed the Catalan coach.
Hansi Flick assured that he is "always very proud of my players. There is a special atmosphere in this team, I am happy to be here." Everything is fantastic, I appreciate it a lot. "I'm happy," he said.
"I wasn't nervous, we have more confidence. It's what we're looking for. It's good to see that the atmosphere is good and that we are focused on the training sessions. It's what we need," concluded the FC Barcelona coach.
