Hansi Flick believes his Barcelona side “want to show how good they are” ahead of their chance to move top of La Liga.
Both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid dropped points on Saturday to give Flick’s side, who host Rayo Vallecano on Monday evening, the opportunity to move back to the summit for the first time since mid-December.
Barca — three points behind leaders Madrid — have won their last three league games, scoring 12 goals and conceding only twice.
Flick insists his team are only focused on themselves and continuing a strong run of form since the return from the winter break.
“I have the feeling this team want to show how good they are, and the mentality they have,” Flick told a news conference on Sunday. “For us, coaches, it is amazing to see that. That’s what you expect from a team.
“We don’t look at the table before the game. What we want is to show a similar performance to what we have done since the start of this year. I see in training a team that is very confident, believes in their strengths even more and they have fun playing with each other.”
Real Madrid’s draw with Osasuna was marked by a sending off for Jude Bellingham after he swore at the referee.
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The England international was alleged in referee Luis Munuera Montero’s report to have said “f*** you” to him.
Carlo Ancelotti explained at full-time the sending off was a mix-up over Bellingham’s use of the phrase “f*** off”, which he claims was used to voice his confusion over a decision as opposed to abuse the referee.
Asked about Bellingham’s dismissal Flick pointed to the sport of handball and its treatment of officials.
“When you say this to me, I think it’s not nice. It’s disrespectful,” Flick said. “But I don’t have to decide about these situations. My opinion on this, and that’s what I tell my players all the time, is why would you waste your energy discussing with a referee and questioning a decision?
“For me, we have one person on the pitch entitled to do that, and it is the captain. We have to accept that.
“I am a big fan of handball, and watch the sport a lot. And in handball, when the referee blows the whistle, the attacking team just leaves the ball to the floor and they all start running backwards to defend with no complaining. I think we all could learn a lot from this sport.
“I honestly don’t like this bad behaviour with referees and I insisted that to my players. It’s not good for the team when any player does it, you might get a red card and I definitely don’t want that.”
(Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
