Flick says winning without Yamal a sign of Barcelona´s improvement

Hansi Flick believes Barcelona’s run of four straight victories without Lamine Yamal in their ranks shows the extent to which they have improved this season.

Yamal has not featured since the international break earlier this month, having aggravated a groin issue when featuring in Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkiye.

But the Blaugrana have shaken off his absence to win four games in a row, maintaining their unbeaten start to the season in LaLiga as well as earning a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United in their Champions League opener.

On Thursday, they recovered from a goal down to beat Real Oviedo 3-1, with Eric Garcia, Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo scoring in the second half.

Barca have averaged 3.25 goals per game without Yamal – who finished second in the Ballon d’Or voting last week – this season.

Flick said of that record: “It’s good for the team. We have made the right decisions, the level of the team has improved. But I think it shows that we have a fantastic team.”

Barca have won 66.7% of their games without Yamal since he broke into their first team (P18 W12 D1 L5), though that does represent a drop from a 70.6% figure when he is involved.

Amid a busy run, Flick shuffled his pack with Frenkie de Jong and Lewandowski coming off the bench, but he was delighted to see the latter find himself on the scoresheet.

50 – Hans Dieter Flick