An unprecedented achievement in Hansi Flick's career

Barcelona"We want the impossible to be possible. You always have to believe. There are always reasons." If any team has the credibility to inspire the fans to dream of a comeback, it's Hansi Flick's Barça. "We have a good example from last season, when we beat Dortmund 4-0. We know the fans will help us. We have to score at least two goals in each half. We know it will be difficult, that we have a fantastic team ahead of us, one that hurt us a lot in the first leg, but we can hurt them too."

The result cited by the Barça manager before the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Atlético de Madrid (9 p.m., TV3) is one of those the coach has used to add extra motivation to the dressing room. "We have a lot of confidence in ourselves," Ferran Torres said a few days ago. He's the leading candidate to lead the attack, as Lewandowski is out with a bone fracture in the inner corner of his left eye socket, sustained against Villarreal. Eric is also unavailable due to suspension, as is De Jong, who is injured, along with Christensen and Gavi.

The 4-0 defeat against Dortmund last April, due to the magnitude of the tie – the Champions League quarterfinals – and the way it unfolded – two goals in the first half and another two in the second – is one of the key precedents Flick is clinging to. That match, however, was the first leg (Barça lost 3-1 in the return leg). Against Atlético Madrid, the task is more complicated. In fact, throughout his entire coaching career, the German manager had never faced the dilemma of one of his teams having to overcome a 4-0 deficit. "I've never been in that situation, but I'm not afraid," he said, without losing his smile, in the press room at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training complex. "We're not throwing in the towel. Anything is possible. We won't give up," the Barça coach insisted. "There has to be a perfect connection between the team and the fans," he added.

The "faith of the protagonists"

Sources within the dressing room told ARA that both "the players and the manager are optimistic about a comeback." Lamine Yamal, who scored his first goal against Villarreal, added to the list. hat trick As a professional with Barça, he wrote, in capital letters, on his Instagram profile: "1% chance, 99% faith." The same message that Neymar, his sporting idol, used before the iconic 6-1 comeback against PSG in March 2017.

"It all starts with believing in a comeback. Honestly, I see it as possible. The opponent is very strong, but when I scored the last goal, we were facing one of the best teams in the world, PSG. We have to believe in them, going back to the Camp Nou. Perhaps the atmosphere won't be the same; it will be even more crucial. We have to believe, and I trust that the team can turn things around," says Sergi Roberto, one of the heroes of the comeback against the Parisians, in an interview with the newspaper Sport

The best examples of Hansi Flick's Barça

Camp Nou –although it doesn't yet have a 1C license The fact that the stadium would exceed 62,000 fans will play a fundamental role in the comeback attempt, which Flick's track record suggests is possible. Since the German coach's arrival in Barcelona, ​​there have been numerous results that would allow Barça to take the game to extra time. There are also quite a few that would allow them to turn the tide of the semi-finals. On more than twenty occasions, Barça has scored four or more goals under Flick's management. At home, the aforementioned thrashing of Dortmund (4-0) stands out, as well as last season's victory against Bayern Munich (4-1), although conceding a goal changes the scenario for the Catalans. In the Champions League, Barça has also thrashed Young Boys (5-0) at home, and this season, Olympiacos (6-1). In the Copa del Rey, in the round of 16 of last season, Barça thrashed Betis 5-1 at Montjuïc in a single-leg match. The biggest wins in the Flick era have come in La Liga: a 7-0 thrashing of Valladolid at the end of August 2014, when he had barely begun his tenure at Barça, and a 7-1 win against Valencia in January 2015. Valencia have suffered the most against Barça: this season they have conceded goals while Johan Cruyff was in charge. Away from home, Valencia also features in Flick's big wins, having beaten them 5-0 in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals last season, also a single-leg match.

Away from home, the standout results are the 4-0 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabéu last season and, also against Real Madrid, the 5-2 victory in the Spanish Super Cup, also from last season. There are reasons to believe in a comeback. And the dressing room and Flick believe it.