Hansi Flick's wild card: "As a child, he was already light years ahead of his peers."

BarcelonaAndreas Christensen has become Hansi Flick's alternative, as he doesn't have to move Pau Cubarsí to the left. The Danish player, who started in the last La Liga match in Vallecas alongside Eric Garcia, can play on the left wing and to fill the gap left by Iñigo Martínez without having to make any other changes to the Barça defensive line.Despite his contract expiring next June, there are still no talks about renewing Christensen's contract, and he will have to earn his place at Barça with strong performances on the pitch.

Injuries have been the Danish footballer's main problem since arriving at Barcelona. In total, he has missed 35% of the team's matches due to injury (he has been selected for 109 of a possible 169 matches). Last season, 2024-25, he was sidelined for six months after suffering a successive Achilles tendon injury—which prevented Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor from being registered until January—and a muscle injury in February, when he had not played since August. These figures were the opposite in the previous season with Xavi (2023-24), in which he played 42 of the 53 matches and was only unavailable for three matches; two due to injury and one due to suspension.

The importance of the father figure

Christensen trained in the youth teams of Skjold Birkerød and Brøndby in Denmark before making the leap to Chelsea's academy, where he made his professional debut. "He started playing football when he was five years old, even though the minimum age to join the team was six. He played with older children, which provided him with new challenges that allowed him to accelerate his development," Frank Hoegh Petersen, Christensen's coach during his formative years, told ARA.

Both clubs are special to the family, as his father, Sten Christensen, also played as a goalkeeper for both clubs. In fact, his father played a very important role in the Danish center-back's development. "His father was his first coach at Skjold Birkerød. He trained daily, which he supplemented in the summer by attending various football camps. Even as a child, he had a talent that was light years ahead of his peers," Petersen recalls.

Later, training with his father became individual sessions. "That allowed him to grow in his technical skills and vision for the game. One of the areas he worked on the most was his confidence with the ball at his feet," the coach comments. A trait that has now helped him adapt perfectly to Barça's game. Christensen's other strength is his versatility and ability to adapt to different positions on the field. "It's been a defining characteristic of his career. At Skjold Birkerød, he was a striker, then he tried his hand at midfield, and now he's become a left-back," Petersen recalls.

One of the coaches who trained him also highlights his calm nature. "He's a modern and versatile defender with great ball control, reading of the game, and technical security, and his talent and hard work have made him a player capable of raising his level and that of the team both as a center back and as a defensive midfielder," concludes Petersen, who admits that his dream was to play for Brøndby and Barça. So, if injuries hold his own, Andreas Christensen could be Hansi Flick's great trump card in his second year at the club.