Cliff Notes – Barcelona dreaming of treble after booking Clásico final
- Barcelona secured a 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid, advancing to the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid and maintaining hopes for a treble this season.
- Coach Hansi Flick emphasised the importance of focusing on upcoming matches, stating that the team’s immediate priority is their next league game against Real Betis.
- Barcelona currently leads La Liga by three points and has reached the Champions League quarter finals, having already won the Spanish Super copa this year.
Barcelona dreaming of treble after booking Clásico final
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick is dreaming of winning a treble after his side beat Atlético Madrid 1-0 on Wednesday to set up a Clásico showdown against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.
Ferran Torres scored the only goal of game at the Estadio Metropolitano to seal a 5-4 aggregate win that kept Barça alive in all three competitions going into the final stretch of the season.
Barça, who previously won a treble in 2009 and 2015, also lead LaLiga by three points with nine games to play, while they face Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. They have already won the Spanish Supercopa this year.
“It’s a good moment, but I am experienced, I know how fast it can change,” Flick said in his post-game news conference. “Dreaming is allowed and we will work very hard and stay focused.
“It’s a big dream for us to win titles. We have the first one [the Supercopa], but in the club they have a lot of space for more titles.”
Barcelona are still in the hunt for a LaLiga, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble this season.
La liga’s top two last met in the Copa final in 2014
Barça and Madrid, La Liga’s top two, last met in the Copa final in 2014. This year’s meeting will take place at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville on April 26.
But Flick is not looking that far ahead yet. Barça have four league games to play first, starting with Real Betis at home on Saturday followed by the Champions League tie against Dortmund.
“I am living in the present, not the past or the future,” he added. “That’s why I am not thinking about the final. If you ask about the final, I will say next match is Betis.
“A Clásico, OK it’s great, but we have to play many games before then. For me, in my mind, it’s really behind all the other important things. For me, it’s not important now.”
Barça could have scored more in the first half against Atlético, with Jules Koundé, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha all missing chances to grow their lead, but Atlético fought back after the break.
The home side could not find away through, though, as Barça extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 21 games.
Flick praised the two halves of his side’s performance and also singled out Barça’s last defeat, against Atlético in LaLiga in December, as the moment their season turned around.
“We were really brave in the first half,” he said. “In the second half we suffered a little bit, but the defence made a great job. It’s not easy here to have a clean sheet and to win. I think Atlético is one of the best teams not only in Spain, but in Europe, so we are happy with this.
“After the winter break, we improved a lot. In every match, every training, you can see the team believes in our way, how we want to play. The match against Atlético before the break, it was a good point.
“I said to the team then that I was really happy how we played. And if we play like this, we are in a fantastic way. And at the moment it’s like that.”