Barca Boss Backs De Jong’s Referee Criticism But Urges Team to “Focus on Ourselves” After Costly Loss
A frustrated but measured Hansi Flick faced the music after watching his Barcelona side’s 12-match unbeaten run—and their comfortable La Liga cushion—vanish in a single night. A 2-1 defeat to a resilient Real Sociedad on Sunday has brutally compressed the title race, leaving the Catalans just one point ahead of a relentless Real Madrid.
“I’m not happy. I’m disappointed,” Flick told reporters, summarizing a match where his team dominated chances but were punished for defensive lapses. “The result doesn’t reflect what we’ve seen. We had a lot of clear chances… Today we were unlucky.”
The manager’s analysis was a mix of praise for his team’s overall play and stark honesty about critical failures. He highlighted a recurring theme of his tenure: the need for defensive solidity. “We made mistakes in defence, we have to defend better,” he admitted, before also ruing the wastefulness in front of goal that saw Barcelona hit the woodwork four times.
Flick notably backed his stand-in captain, Frenkie de Jong, who had publicly criticized referee Jesús Gil Manzano’s performance and demeanor after the final whistle. “That’s what he said and I agree,” Flick stated, revealing a shared frustration with the officiating. “He is the captain. He’s on the pitch, he wants to talk to him and he can’t. Sometimes I also want to talk to the fourth official and I can’t.”
However, the German coach was quick to pivot the focus inward, insisting that blaming officials is a dead end in a tight title race. “I’m not going to spend time or energy on that… We focus on ourselves. We should have scored more goals, we had chances. We come back without points.”
His final message was one of urgency and perspective. With the Champions League knockout stages looming and the league margin now razor-thin, Flick emphasized the need for immediate resilience. “We have to focus on the next game, which is very important. Every three days there are meetings… We’ve played very well in the last two weeks and we have to keep it up.”
For Barcelona, the warning is clear: the room for error has evaporated. The “unluckiness” Flick described must now be replaced by cold, clinical execution if their title defense is to stay on track.
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