Barca boss Flick: "Bellingham's red card? He lacked respect"

Barcelona take on Rayo Vallecano at the Montjuic on Monday knowing that a win would catapult them to the top of the La Liga table after current leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Atletico Madrid both dropped points on Saturday. 

“We don’t look at the other teams. We’ll look at the standings and see how we’ll be at the end of the season," said Barca manager Hansi Flick ahead of the game. "We’ve played some good games this year. In training, the players are having a good time. They want to show how good they are and the mentality they have. We have to keep going like this.”

The 'Blaugrana' have the opportunity to reclaim a lead they lost two months ago due to a poor run in November and December. But the Germany international warned his team against underestimating tomorrow's opponents. “Rayo are doing a good job. It's not easy to play against them, with pressure and high intensity. They have done very well and that’s why they are succeeding.”

Speaking on individual players, Flick confirmed that Ronald Araujo "will be on the squad list", though the probability that he will get minutes on the pitch remains a doubt. Recent reports have informed that the Uruguayan centre-back was unable to complete Barca's last training session after suffering a heavy blow on his ankle against Sevilla last week.

Bellingham's red card controversy

The England international was dismissed after 39 minutes of Madrid's 1-1 draw at El Sadar when he exchanged words with referee Jose Munuera Montero, who then reached for the red card. Bellingham was alleged in the official's report to have said “f*** you” to him. The midfielder said there was a misunderstanding over his use of the phrase “f*** off”, claiming that he used to voice his confusion over a decision and had no intention of insulting the referee.

“When you say this to me, I think it’s not nice. It’s disrespectful,” Flick said when asked about the incident. “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?

He added: “For me, we have one person on the pitch entitled to do that, and it is the captain. We have to accept that. 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.”