Barcelona coach Hansi Flick hopes Spanish Supercopa success this week in Saudi Arabia will provide the springboard for further trophies this season as he looks to add to the three titles he won in his first year in charge.
Flick steered Barça to Supercopa glory last January, laying the foundations for the team to go on and win LaLiga and the Copa del Rey, while also reaching a first Champions League semifinal since 2019.
Barça kick off their defence of the trophy in Jeddah against Athletic Club on Wednesday, with the winners playing either Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid in Sunday’s final.
“It’s a great tournament,” Flick said in a news conference on Tuesday. “The Supercopa is a little different than Germany, with four teams, but I like it.
“Last season we started great. To win the Supercopa gave us a lot of energy for the rest of the season and this is what we want this year.
“With just two matches, it’s the shortest way to win a trophy, this is enough motivation. We did it last season and hopefully we can do it this season.
“As a club, Barcelona want to win titles. This is what the fans want, the club and of course also the players. We are here to be successful.”
Barça have won eight matches in a row in all competitions since losing to Chelsea in November, but performances have not always matched results.
Flick said after Saturday’s 2-0 win against Espanyol that his side did not deserve the victory and he says they must improve if they are to win a 16th Supercopa this week.
“The goal is to win the trophy, but it’s not easy against a really good Athletic team,” he added. “They have fast players, but we have an idea how we want to play.
“We have to do some things better than the last two matches, but we know our strengths, what is necessary to play on this level and everyone has to be included.
“If we make the same mistakes as Saturday, it will not be easy. We have to play much better in defence; be connected as one team. We have to make things much better.”
Lamine Yamal trained alone on Tuesday but club sources said he will be fine to face Athletic, while Ronald Araújo could also come back into contention after travelling with the team to Jeddah following a mental health break.
Andreas Christensen and Gavi, therefore, are the only players definitely unavailable.
Flick also confirmed the club are closing in on the loan signing of João Cancelo from Al Hilal, as reported by ESPN on Monday.
“With Joao, maybe he can give us more options at full-back,” Flick said. “He can play both sides and in the offence he has good quality. But it’s not done.
“If it works, I would be happy, more options. We discussed a centre-back, but this makes sense, it’s six months, a good option and a high quality player.”
After losing Christensen to a partial ACL tear, Flick would have liked to bring in a central defender this month, but the difficulty of the January transfer window coupled with the club’s financial position made that impossible in the end.
“We are in a situation in the last two years where we have to be smart with the players who come in,” he explained. “It’s not like other clubs who can pay hundreds of millions for new players, but it’s good.”