Hansi Flick's manual not only aligns with Johan Cruyff's pragmatic ideal of “I’d rather win 5-4 than 1-0”, but it has also delivered titles to legitimize a philosophy that always clashes with the conservative armchair punditry of our house, or with lovers of defensive calculation everywhere. In this endemic political clash, the camp of the good guys, which includes those who prefer artistic enjoyment to tactical grids, has ratified a cultural vindication with the spectacle put on by PSG and Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Seeing the admiration the match has generated, I imagine Flick must have let out an ironic smile, recalling how experts like Thierry Henry or Ruud Gullit had branded his offensive approach as kamikaze with pronouncements like “you can’t win the Champions League playing like that”.
If Flick's Barça has not yet reached a final in Europe's top competition, leaving aside the refereeing, it's not because its playing system is too risky. The German is criticized for the team conceding goals very easily, when, surely, what he has most missed this season is having alternatives to attack better in decisive moments. The exuberance that made us thrill watching the 5-4 at the Parc des Princes is explained by the football that Luis Enrique and Vincent Kompany think, but also by the talent on the pitch to execute it. And this is the crux of the matter: last summer, Deco's number one objective was to strengthen with Luis Díaz, and he had to settle for Marcus Rashford. Looking at the Colombian winger's goal serves to confirm the galaxy that separates them: a metaphor for Barça.
Flick, finally, has started to speak clearly: he wants "perfect" decisions to be made in the summer to take the necessary leap forward to dream of the Champions League. Yes, the economic management carried out in the club's offices has an increasing impact on football ambitions. And the better the coach, the more evident it becomes that he must be given more resources to make the most of him. The excuses for not returning to the famous 1:1 rule of financial fair play should not be repeated in a club that cannot afford to keep flying like a low cost company. Flick, who is on the verge of winning his second league title after a particularly tough season due to injuries, has made the most of the squad and deserves to be able to work better. Now it's up to president Joan Laporta to go out and win by truly attacking.
