Hansi Flick felt a lack of physical freshness cost Barcelona in a game he thought they controlled, after they slumped to a 2-1 defeat against rivals Real Madrid.
Flick says Barca struggled to match Madrid's physicality in Clasico defeat
Barcelona saw their perfect start to the season in LaLiga halted by their arch-rivals Real Madrid, with Kylian Mbappe doing the damage.
Kylian Mbappe's brace decided the first edition of El Clasico this season, with the France captain slotting in an 87th-minute winner following a wonderful counter involving Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Eduardo Camavinga.
The result saw Barca miss the chance to become the first team on record to start a season in one of Europe's top five leagues with 10 straight victories.
Their run of nine wins to open 2026-27 puts them level with the record starts made by Chelsea in the Premier League (in 2005-06) and Madrid in LaLiga (in 1968-69).
Madrid have now won on four of their last seven trips to Barca in LaLiga (L3), more victories than they managed in their previous 16 such visits (W3 D6 L7), with the result moving them within three points of the LaLiga leaders.
And though Flick was content with aspects of his team's performance, he noted that Madrid had the physical edge throughout the contest.
"I'm not satisfied. We weren't 100% fresh, that's the reality," Flick said, as quoted by Sport ES.
"Real Madrid had chances and scored two goals, we had control of the game, but we lacked fluidity in the first half.
"In the second we were doing damage, but that late goal made it 1-2. It's difficult, but we have to accept it.
"We lacked freshness to circulate the ball, and we have to disconnect a little bit now, to regain our best condition and come back fresher."
Barca had 18 shots to Madrid's 10, with 11 of their attempts coming from inside the area, but they lost the expected goals (xG) battle by 1.19 to 1.95.
"There's not much to say. From my point of view, we were superior, but this is Madrid, they can have few chances and still score against you," defender Joao Cancelo said.
"We are going to look at the mistakes we made – we have to react. We always want to press high and there are times when we need to have more control of the ball, we lacked that today.
"We are a humble team that likes to work hard, and now, with all the boys, we have to think about Alaves [on Saturday]."
While Barca welcome Alaves to Camp Nou for their next LaLiga game on Saturday, Madrid are away to Racing Santander the following day.
Having gone down 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, the Blaugrana have now suffered back-to-back defeats in all competitions, having won their first 11 games of the campaign.
