What Hansi Flick told the Barcelona dressing room after AS Monaco defeat

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick suffered his first defeat on Thursday as his 10-man side went down to AS Monaco. All eyes will be on Flick to see how his side reacts.

Flick met with President Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco after the game to discuss it, and they all agreed not to overstate the importance of a match that was heavily conditioned by such an early sending off. They felt that the side needed to learn from their mistakes, but that there is a larger margin of error in the Champions League than in La Liga.

That is according to MD, who say that Flick reassured the dressing room, and was satisfied with their attitude after the sending off. He is also happy that their clash with Villarreal is just around the corner, allowing them to react immediately.

However insider account Portera de Nunez added that Flick told the Barcelona squad to ‘think about what you did wrong, or what you could do better’. The German coach also encouraged his charges to ‘play easy and risk as little as possible’. His post-match team talk was conducted without any shouting or anger, despite his earlier irritation.

Flick has so far been an example of composure, at least publicly, an added an air of sense and seriousness to the Blaugrana this season. Despite the ongoing noise off the pitch that has been a constant at Barcelona for the last five years, Flick has managed to keep the focus on football thus far. The Monaco defeat was his first setback though, and the atmosphere could swing dramatically if they were to suffer a loss to an in-form Villarreal this Sunday night.

At the end of the match, a photo of the fans giving the players a reception revealed an unfortunate banner in the Barcelona end reading ‘Flick heil’. In German, it means ‘hail Flick’, but references the now infamous ‘Sieg heil’ [hail victory] or ‘Heil Hitler’ [Hail Hitler] in Germany, which was used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during his reign of terror and murder of millions of Jews. The salute and phrase are punishable by up to three years in jail in Germany.

Fort responded to the banner publicly on Twitter/X, although it is not yet clear whether any action will be taken.

“Despicable. Disgraceful. Disgusting and sad that someone who claims to love the Club acts like this. Everything has a limit. It can never be repeated again. Never again.”

This is the second time an incident of this nature has occurred this year, report Diario AS, who say that two fans were arrested by French police in Paris for using the Nazi salute during an away trip to Paris Saint-Germain. The two members were then suspended by Barcelona too. The radical group ‘Boixos Nois’ [Crazy boys] were expelled from the stadium by Barcelona long ago, and have strong links to the far-right, often sporting Nazi memorabilia. Seemingly, the remnants of that group continue to hang around.

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