Barcelona will fight to the end to win the title, the coach of the Catalans, Hansi Flick, promised before tonight's big La Liga derby with Atletico Madrid (21 p.m.).
Such an emotional statement, with a certain amount of anger and rage, would hardly have come from the German coach, say, a month and a half ago. At that time, the Catalans had a record of as many as 14 victories in 16 La Liga matches, while Real and even Atlético were suffocating in problems.
But things changed unexpectedly. The Catalans won only one of the last five matches in La Liga, they suffered three defeats, two tied at home, by whom - Las Palmas, then Leganes.
Admittedly, they are still first in the table, but who knows if they will be soon - they have the same number of points as Atletico, one more than Real, with the fact that both Madrid rivals have a game less.
So, even though it's the 19th round, the halfway point of the season, a lot is riding on tonight's derby, especially because Atlético arrive at "Montjuic" with an incredible streak of 11 consecutive victories, six in La Liga.
- We are not satisfied with the situation, but we will fight until the end of the season. We want to win the title, we know it won't be easy. However, we want to win against Atlético, that's what interests us - said the German coach.
Hansi Flick, the former European champion with Bayern, is aware that there will be little room for error if Barça wants three points against Atlético, this kind of Atlético.
- It's the end of the year. We are looking forward to a good game against one of our biggest rivals. Don't panic. Today is December 20, we are first in La Liga and second in the Champions League. We're not that bad. We lost some points, especially against Las Palmas and Leganes, we have to try to get them back - Flik added.
His biggest problem is not playing Lamin Jamal, who will be out for several weeks due to injury.
- We have to accept that he is injured and will not be able to play. We still have a good, young team. We need to fight and progress, we want to achieve great things. But we know it won't be easy, every three days we play against great teams - said Flik.
During the era of Diego Simeone on the bench, Atlético was also the champion (twice), played in the final of the Champions League twice, but it is unlikely that they have ever been in such a good series as now...
- What we have been talking about for a month and a half: the team is working well, looking for opportunities in every game to harm the opponent. We want to compete and improve - Simeone told reporters.
- We are facing a team that plays very well, I like their youth in the midfield, Rafinja is one of the best in the league for his courage and style of play. We also have our trump cards, it will certainly be a fun match.
Simeone, interestingly, has never beaten Barcelona away from home as a coach. He has led Atlético since 2011, and the "colćoneros" last celebrated at Barca back in 2006.
- I didn't win there in my life, but I won the title - El Ćolo recalled the famous 1:1 draw from 2014.
Real welcomes Sevilla on Sunday.
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