Every word of Hansi Flick’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona: 2024 LaLiga EA Sports Week 11

Hansi Flick is looking forward to his first official Clásico as Barça coach regardless of the controversy that surrounds this particular encounter between Spain’s top two. In the run-up to the game, Real Madrid’s official television channel broadcast a report highlighting the stats which José María Sánchez Martínez, the man who will be refereeing Saturday’s clash, has built up while officiating both teams - and insinuating that Barça get preferential treatment. That report hasn’t gone down well in Barcelona and Flick was asked how he felt about it in Friday’s press conference.

As for the game, the German coach says he wants to win it to break Barça’s recent bad run against the eternal enemy. Barcelona head into it with spirits and confidence sky-high confidence after the midweek victory against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But beating Ancelotti’s men is never easy - especially at the Bernabéu...

What does your first Clásico mean to you and how is the team doing?

To be honest, I’m not thinking too much about today. I can see that we are looking forward to playing the game. And so am I. It will be a great game.

Is this match a test of your playing style?

We have our approach and ideas, we already had them against Bayern and we realized that we had to improve. In every game we have to adapt to the next game and now it’s time to adapt to Real Madrid. It’s like every game, now we play against Madrid and all the players are very prepared, but I trust my players because they are doing great. After going a goal down against Bayern we retaliated and went on to win the game and that’s a good sign because it means that we believe in ourselves. With more possession and in attack, with and without the ball. We have shown it and we will continue to show it.

Madrid have had more time to rest ahead of El Clásico

Your players have had one day less rest than Madrid. Could that affect them?

We are not going to change anything, it cannot be changed. After all, it’s Madrid and they played on Tuesday and we played on Wednesday, and that’s that - each to their own. Our players have trained very well.

Could you explain to us how you practice the offside trap?

We have a lot of coaches who are looking at this, but it is our philosophy, to press as much as possible with and without the ball, we have to get closer and closer to being a compact unit and not leaving spaces between the lines. What we have done is great, especially in the second half against Bayern. It is not easy to train and we are going to have to adapt and balance the loads so that training is not so hard. The players are doing great and they have adapted and adapt to the game. So the changes work, I believe in the team and we have many qualities and that is what we want to see. Everyone plays at their best and supports each other. When we are united, it is our greatest strength.

Flick gives team update for Madrid test

What does a player like Fermin offer to the team? Will he start at the Bernabéu?

I haven’t decided yet if he’ll be a starter or not, but you know, he’s been involved in three goals. That’s exactly what we want for him and he’s shown it, we’re very happy that he’s back from injury and that he showed that performance was great.

Have you given Lamine Yamal any special advice for the match?

I always talk to the players, as I always say, we have a great team and exceptional players like Lamine, he is doing very well, but then you see what Cubarsi is doing at 17 years old and he is also very good. We need everyone at their best for tomorrow, that is the most important thing.

What ceiling do you see for Pau Cubarsí? Kompany said that he will be one of the best centre-backs in the world...

It’s great to be able to see how he plays. It’s all down to him, what he’s doing, he always has that hunger to improve and train hard. He gives everything for the club and is on an extraordinary path without a doubt. All the players are on the right path.

Madrid has the virtue of winning without playing well. Does that make them more dangerous?

Yes. They will be ready for this game and so will we.

Flick not interested in debate about referees

Real Madrid TV has made another video about the referee. What do you think?

I didn’t know anything about the Real Madrid TV video. It’s not right that this is happening. The referees have a very hard job and my job is to prepare the players. I have a lot of experience and I’ve never had any problems with the referees. I told the team at the beginning of the season that the focus should be on performance, not on the referees. We can’t be busy with these things, but with full energy and focus on our performance.

How can Lamine Yamal improve?

Especially for the Bayern game I wanted to do one thing, I had several things to do and the most important one was to press Davies from the back line into the midfield because when he started to attack we know how important he was and we saw it in the first goal how he worked. He is a fantastic player, with the ball you could see that against Bayern. It is an honour what Lamine did and for us it is important that he can improve in defence. He is doing very well.

Do you know that unimaginable things happen at the Bernabéu?

Really? Tell me. The refereeing? I’ve already given my answer before about the referees. I’ve been to the Bernabéu before and I even played there with Bayern Munich, a long time ago. Nothing happened.

You have been showered with praise since your arrival. What’s that been like?

It’s nice to be praised, but I know what my job is like and my job is results. When we win, well, when we don’t, bad. We focus on how we want to play. There’s a big change here at the club and at Barcelona, and you can feel it, the connection is admirable, the atmosphere last Wednesday was fantastic. That’s why we play football and we give everything to win. It’s our job and everyone, when you play, you do it for them, for the fans, playing the Clásico is what you want most. In Germany there are Clásicos but it’s not the same, Barça-Madrid is the Clásico in capital letters.