Flick hails Barcelona maturity to see out Sevilla win

Hansi Flick says he is proud of Barcelona’s maturity in controlling the match during their 4-1 victory at Sevilla, despite playing around 30 minutes with 10 men.

Ruben Vargas immediately cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s seventh-minute goal, but Fermin Lopez and Raphina scored early in the second half to restore Barcelona’s lead.

Fermin was then sent off with a straight red card after a nasty tackle on Djibril Sow in the 62nd minute. But, Barcelona held off Sevilla before Eric Garcia scored their fourth with one minute remaining.

Fermin became just the second Barcelona player in the 21st century to come on as a substitute (17 minutes in play), score and be sent off in a LaLiga game after Vitor Roque at Mendizorroza in February 2024 (13 minutes of play).

For the first time ever, Barcelona have collected points in each of their last nine visits to Sevilla in LaLiga (W6 D3) and for the first time, they have beaten Sevilla in seven consecutive games.

“I value this victory so much, they were brilliant out there and showed a lot of character and guts,” Flick told DAZN.

“In the first half we played well and in the second half we were doing also a good job but after the red card, we had to fight. It was great to see that we did it and we got the win.

“The players showed maturity and that’s fantastic. We defended well and I am happy about that. We were able to contain their players on the flanks, they are a dangerous team to play against. I think we were really good.”

One player missing from Barcelona’s emphatic victory was Ansu Fati, who Flick had hinted may be back in the matchday squad for their trip to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Fati has made just four LaLiga appearances so far this season, having also been linked with an exit, but Flick was happy with the progress he had made of late.

“It’s a team decision,” Flick added.

“I already said it [on Saturday] in a press conference. I spoke with him very honestly and he’s working well. He’s very close to the team and that’s what I want to see.”

The win lifted third-placed Barcelona to 48 points, one behind second-place Atletico Madrid and two off leaders Real Madrid after the capital rivals drew 1-1 on Saturday.