FC Barcelona Coach Flick Talks ‘Worst Game’ Following Monaco Defeat

FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick had to answer whether his team's 2-1 defeat against AS Monaco in the Champions League was their 'worst game' of the season so far.

Barca went into its 2024/2025 UCL debut with five wins from five in La Liga. At the Louis Stadium II on Wednesday night, however, a poor pass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen at close quarters resulted in Eric Garcia being red carded as the last man to commit a foul and meant that the Catalans were on the back foot for over 80 minutes with 10 men.

Lamine Yamal equalized with his first ever goal in Europe around the half hour mark after Maghnes Akliouche opened the scoring for the hosts. Yet with around 20 minutes to spare, George Ilenikhena fired home the winner to make it two wins over Barca in two months when considering an 3-0 August thrashing of the Blaugrana in August.

In his post-match press conference, however, Flick refused to confirm outright that this week's defeat was the worst game of his reign and the season thus far.

"When you have five wins and you lose, you can say that it is the worst - yes. We didn't start badly. In some phases weren't good in the combinations. But I insist that I have seen positive things and now we have to focus on La Liga," Flick said.

Asked if he is worried that the first loss of his tenure came on the continent, Flick stressed that everything changed after the red card with his men "strong enough to play in the Champions League".

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"There are seven games left and we will achieve our objectives," he vowed.

"We will be stronger and there are still seven games to go," Flick reiterated elsewhere. "In the next games we have to recover our energy. We have games every three days, but we already know what it is."

With an away trip to Villarreal on Sunday up next, in what is essentially a battle between first and fourth place, Flick confirmed that he is thinking about giving his 17-year-old Lamine and Pau Cubarsi a rest at El Madrigal.