Hansi Flick silences critics on the mantra that haunted him the most

BarcelonaOf the shit November Hansi Flick's first few months in charge at Barça have been marked by doubts surrounding the team's start to this season, with some struggles in the Champions League and La Liga. The team has put those ghosts behind them thanks to a string of good results, regaining its confidence – despite some ups and downs in its play – and proving once again that it can be a machine capable of comebacks. Barça, overcoming a very strong Espanyol side with more clinical finishing than fluid play, finished the first half of the season as league leaders with 49 points, four more than Real Madrid, who thrashed a defensively weak Betis side 5-1 on Sunday. In the 21st century, only Real Madrid, in the 2011-12 season, managed to reach the 49 points that Flick's team has achieved in the first nineteen La Liga matches played so far. In fact, this is Barça's eighth-best first half of the season this century. These figures demonstrate Barça's dominance in the domestic competition in recent years, during which they have been winter champions thirteen times, representing 50% of the editions played since 2000. Furthermore, in eleven of these thirteen instances, the Blaugrana have gone on to lift the title.

The league statistics show that Barça heads into the decisive stretch of the season with eleven more points than last year. On paper, the second half of the season should be easier for Flick's men. Barça has already visited the stadiums of four of the five teams trailing them in the standings (Real Madrid, Villarreal, Espanyol, and Betis) and has only lost to one, at the Santiago Bernabéu: 2-1. Of the five main pursuers, only Atlético de Madrid remains to be visited. At Villarreal and Betis, the team secured away victories with a 2-0 win at La Cerámica and a thrilling 5-3 comeback at La Cartuja. At the RCDE Stadium, it was harder to achieve a victory that only came in the final minutes. "I don't think we deserved that result, but in the end, the quality we showed on the pitch, after the substitutions, won us the game." The first thing I have to do is thank Joan Garcia. He's one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And the same goes for the players who came off the bench. We won the three points, and that's the message we're sending to La Liga," the Barça coach said. The derby victory can't be explained without the performance of the goalkeeper from Sallent. Joan kept his seventh clean sheet in La Liga and has conceded the fewest goals per game (0.69), scoring at least one goal in 39 consecutive matches. Flick's attacking style has been the dominant theme in the German's season and a half in charge. On January 18, Flick would surpass his own record at the helm of the Barça bench. In this way, the coach would continue to silence his critics and put to rest one of the main mantras that has accompanied him throughout his coaching career: those who label him as a coach where second-place finishes are secondary.

Barça closes the first half of the season with improved records compared to the first campaign under the German manager, and this week they will have the opportunity to add another Super Cup to their tally. Furthermore, the German coach, dissatisfied with his players' response to training during the initial phase of his second season with the Blaugrana, is also celebrating the team's internal progress, which began after the painful 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. For this second half of the season, Flick will have Gavi back – who will gradually reintegrate – in February, and he also hopes that Marc Bernal can get more playing time. They are proceeding very cautiously with a player who impressed the coach before his injury, and they don't want to rush him despite his recovery because his body – he is 18 years old – is still growing. Regarding the winter transfer window, if suitable options are found and the budget allows, Flick would welcome the addition of a left-sided centre-back and an attacking midfielder.