Hansi Flick is determined that the success of Barcelona this season is the result of hard work instead of happiness.
While the Blaugrana is preparing for Wednesday’s Copa del Rey against Atletico Madrid, the head coach looks at every game as a final from now on until the end of the season.
Barcelona and Atletico played an incredible 4-4 draw in the first stage of their semi-final in February. Now they meet again in the Metropolitano to decide who will go to the final on 26 April, where they are confronted with Real Madrid or Real Sociedad.
“It’s like a final for the final,” said Barca coach Flick on Tuesday during his press conference for the game. “They want to reach this final and it’s the same with us.
“My team, the players can be proud of what they do. We work hard and what we achieve is not lucky, they deserve it. This is the positive one. They can be very proud.
“We know that we have not reached so far [anything] – OK, we have the [Spanish] Supercopa, but it’s in the past – and now we want to go to the final, but it’s not easy.
🎙️ Hansi Flick: “We want to go to the final, but it’s not easy. Atlético has a great coach and the team is very experienced.” #Atletaric pic.twitter.com/etqlbcv6m
– FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona) April 1, 2025
“Atletico has a great coach with [Diego] Simeone, an experienced team, they know how they want to play. You can see in the competitions before they are there until the last second. It will be a difficult match. “
Atletico Madrid was last against Laliga in December after beating Barca and at that time still competed in the Champions League.
However, their season fell apart quickly and they are now following Barcelona with nine points in the rankings, while they are also beaten from the Champions League by Real Madrid.
With the Copa del Rey now the best chance of Atletico for silverware, Flick does not believe that this will make them more dangerous than before.
“Maybe it’s the nearest title they can win, but it’s the same for us,” he said. “One win and then in a final. While there are many matches in LaLiga to play.
“Atletico will play the way they play normally, nothing else. They have their style. The intensity is always high, aggressive. This is normal. I love how they play football, even at a lot of speed in their game. I love their style, how they play.”
