When he left Barcelona in the summer of 2023, Jordi Cruyff, technical secretary, spoke to Xavi Hernández: “You will be left alone.” Less than a year later, the Catalan had lost the trust of the board and a team without play or direction. In 2021, Hansi Flick received similar advice before leaving his almighty Bayern, winner of the sextete in the 2019-2020 campaign, to jump to the German national team. “When he was with us he came to my office three times a week to have coffee and talk about everything. He needs contacts he can trust and, with all due respect, he did not have them in the Federation,” revealed Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, member of the supervisory board of the German giant. If Cruyff and Rummenigge have something in common, it is that they know about football and politics. And time proved both of them right: Joan Laporta dispensed with Xavi and Flick became the first coach fired from Germany.
Flick learned his lesson. One of the first suggestions that he adopted as a model of coexistence in Barcelona was to protect himself from the press. “There are no more leaks. Hansi is a football man. He came here and saw that there was a lot of noise and he preferred to concentrate on work,” they warn from the sports area. Although in Germany, Flick used to have a close relationship with journalists, Barcelona has opted for ostracism. Of course, he does not lose his grace or his charisma in his appearances. He doesn’t do it in the locker room either. “It’s serious, yes; but it has its moments… I don’t want to change the image it has,” Dani Olmo said in an interview with Jorge Valdano. The most important lesson, in any case, was knowing how to surround yourself, especially knowing how to listen. No one at the Ciudad Deportiva is surprised when they see Flick having long talks with Deco (sports director) and Bojan (member of the sports commission). “They talk a lot about football, about the rivals, about the players, about how each other is doing. Not two days go by without them meeting. But neither Deco nor Bojan get into tactical aspects. That is the coach’s problem,” explains the same source from the sports area.
Although Flick continues with his Spanish classes, his conversations with Deco and Bojan are in English, just like those he has with most of the players. With Ter Stegen, Dani Olmo and Lewandowski he does it in German. “He speaks a little Spanish, but generally speaks to them in English. For the most complex tactical issues use Arnau [Blanco, reemplazante de Thiago Alcántara como miembro del staff]”, they explain in the Sports City. Everyone, however, regardless of the language, highlights the warmth of the technician. “It’s very close. It’s there for whatever you need. It is there for everyone, for those who play and for those who play less. It conveys the same closeness, information and idea of the game to everyone,” revealed Dani Olmo.
His proximity does not make him erase his demands, nor his rules. Koundé, as published Sportwas left out of the Champions League duel against Young Boys for appearing late to the pre-match talk. “If I say that the talk starts at seven, it means that I start talking at seven. Therefore, you have to be there first,” he explained. The staff liked the gesture, essentially because they had previously had a similar response with Héctor Fort. The players, always attentive to measuring their coaches, wanted to see if they would dare to make the same decision with a heavyweight in the group, few as strong as Koundé, until then the only one who had played every minute of the course. And Flick perked up.
The new rules are not only seen in the coexistence schedules, but are also seen in the footballers’ clothing. “No more extravagant clothes,” they explain from the sports area. At 59 years old, Flick was struck by the time his players took before getting off the bus. “What if one put on glasses, what if the other put on a leather jacket…” insist the same sources. It turned out then that, despite the fact that Barcelona was one of the few European clubs that had successfully copied the American model – brands and networks focused on the Barça team’s attire before matches – Flick recovered a old formula: the tracksuit.
“But the most important thing,” they point out from the Barcelona board; “It’s what happens in the field. And on the field, Barça not only wins, it also infects the fans.” A praise that begins in Flick and ends in Deco, always with an indirect message for Xavi. “We are very happy with this squad and with the representation of La Masia. Also with Flick and Deco, who has reduced the sports wage bill and has had the ability to improve the squad and rejuvenate it. That strengthens us for the present and the future,” Laporta highlighted in the Assembly.
The squad also celebrates the present with an eye on the past. “We are happy: the level of training is very good and physically we are like bulls,” they emphasize from the Barça locker room. “But,” they add from the sports area; “It’s not just running and training. There are tactical answers. Koundé, for example, never doubled Lamine in attack before. Now he does it and that doesn’t provide many solutions.”
“You don’t win seven titles in a year and a half if you are not a good coach,” Rummenigge recalled in Kicker, Flick’s successful time on the Bayern bench, while at the same time defending his fiasco in the national team: “He was a victim of the then totally unstable Federation.” Tonight (9:00 p.m., Movistar Champions League), Hansi Flick is once again in Germany’s sights. He does it with his surprising Barcelona and against Bayern no less. “The past is not worth it, the here and now is worth it,” says Flick. History does not favor the Blaugrana: two victories for 12 defeats, none as grotesque and painful as the 2-8 in Lisbon, precisely with Flick as Bayern coach. “You owe us one,” Laporta jokingly warned his coach. A coach with a recipe as simple as it is surprising at Barcelona: little noise and a lot of work. At least, that’s what they say in the Ciudad Deportiva. In any case, the results support it: 10 wins and two losses.