Barcelona manager Hansi Flick said that it is “not luck” that the club has enjoyed success this season, as the players “earned it.”
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Barcelona success is “not down to luck”
Barça is preparing for Wednesday’s “final before the final” match against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
In February, Barca and Atletico drew 4-4 in the first leg of their Copa semifinal and will meet again for the return leg at the Metropolitano this week.
The winner will face Real Madrid in the final on April 26.
Although Flick said that his side has not achieved anything yet, he acknowledged that Barca can be very proud of their success this season.
“It’s like a final before the final,” Flick said in a news conference on Tuesday. “They want to reach this final and it is the same with us.
“My team, the players can be proud about what they’re doing. We’re working hard and what we achieve is not luck, they earned it. This is the positive thing. They can be very proud.
“We know that until now we have not reached [anything] — OK, we won the [Spanish] Supercopa, but it’s in the past — and now we want to go to the final, but it’s not easy.”
Atletico and Barca will go toe-to-toe for the Copa del Rey trophy
Atletico and Barca have had an intriguing back-and-forth this season.
Diego Simeone’s squad briefly topped LaLiga after defeating Flick’s side in December.
Since then, they have fallen nine points behind Barca, who now lead the league, and have been knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.
Although the Copa is now Atletico’s best chance at silverware, Flick, whose Barca team is unbeaten in 20 games this year and still competing in three tournaments, does not see them as a bigger threat than before.
“Atlético have a great coach with [Diego] Simeone, an experienced squad, they know how they want to play. You can see in the matches before until the last second they are there. It will be a difficult match.”
“Maybe it’s the nearest title they can win, but’s the same for us,” he said. “One win and then in a final. Whereas in LaLiga there are a lot of matches to play.”
“Atlético will play like they normally play, nothing different. They have their style. The intensity is always high, aggressive. This is normal. I love how they play football, also with a lot of speed in their game. I love their style, how they play.”
