FC Barcelona make decision on Flick Future after Atletico Madrid loss

According to SPORTciting anonymous sources, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta still has “absolute confidence” in his head coach Hansi Flick despite the Catalans’ first team slumping to their third consecutive La Liga home defeat against Atletico Madrid in Montjuic on Saturday.

Barca and Atleti went into the huge clash level on points at the top of the Spanish table.

Yet while the Blaugrana suffered back-to-back defeats to relative minnows Las Palmas and Leganes, Diego Simeone’s men were on a 12-match winning streak and also had a game in hand.

As much as six points ahead after a 4-0 demolition of Real Madrid in El Clasico as October drew to a close, Barca now risk being the same number of points behind in the title race itself after going 1-0 up through Pedri nevertheless succumbed to second-half goals from Rodrigo de Paul and Alexander Sorloth to lose 2-1 in a chastening defeat for which Raphinha took the blame.

Speaking after the match at his press conference, Flick said that it “was really incredible how we play.”

“That’s how I want to see my team. I’m proud. It also shows that Atletico are an experienced team and they’re just waiting for this and for them that’s enough.

“I think our style, how we want to play, it was really fantastic – fantastic. It’s really disappointing that we have nothing in our hands (from the game), that’s the big disappointment.

“I told the team that I really appreciate how we play. Maybe we need to play more intelligently. We were penalized for maybe two mistakes, we have to learn about these things, but this is the way for me.

“The quality we played, how we played … I think everyone here in the room can see this. It’s also the style that Barca will play, how they will dominate, but at the end of the day it’s football and the team that scores more goal wins,” Flick further explained.

SPORT reported that Laporta “finished the match against Atletico very angry”, but it was more about the final result than how the team played.

Despite five defeats in 2024/2025 so far, which is the same number of losses as Flick’s sacked predecessor Xavi Hernandez recorded in the whole of 2023/2024, confidence in the German remains “absolute”.

“The club exudes calm, confident that the situation will be reversed in January, when titles are already up for grabs,” the paper adds in a nod to the Spanish Super Cup.

By perhaps getting past Athletic Club in the semi-finals and then beating Real Madrid or Mallorca in the final, Flick and his men can reinstall faith in the Barca project among Culers and the press.