"We beat one of the best teams in the world"

Barcelona's coach Hansi Flick praised on Sunday "the great game" played by his players against Real Madrid in the final of the Super Cup, of whom he said that "they already feel that they are a big team" for the level shown to win the title against a rival like Real Madrid.

Flick said that beating Real Madrid again and winning an important title is something that makes him feel “very proud” and he also valued the way it was achieved: “For me it is very important how we play, the style, playing as a team”.

When asked how it is possible to go from losing at home to teams like Las Palmas or Leganes to beating Real Madrid twice, the German coach replied: “I don't want to go back in time. Each match has its own things”. 

“We play game by game and they already feel that we are a big team. That's the important thing. I am very happy for the team. Today we beat one of the best teams in the world. We have to continue together and improve,” he remarked.

He acknowledged that Szczesny's red card was a delicate situation, but praised the team's commitment to react: “What I'm most proud of is the defence. We did very well. When you only have ten players on the pitch, it's not so easy to play against Real Madrid.”

“We won the Super Cup by being a united team, but we are Barca and we are forced to improve. We don't look back. We lived in the moment and we have to recognise that it was spectacular,” he said.

Flick thanked the entire squad, particularly those on the bench, and singled out the two goalkeepers, Szczesny and Inaki Pena: “We have two very good goalkeepers”.

In addition to the positive aspects, he pointed out that his players can “do better”, because they also made some mistakes in the match, but insisted that the most important thing is to be “focused and think about what is coming”.