FLASH NEWS
Flik's team in difficulty, Barcelona's drastic decline in play revealed
2026-03-12 23:48:25 / SPORT
Barcelona, with a broken spirit, has suffered a draw in Newcastle. It is not the goal scored in the last seconds that has raised tensions in the Catalan club. It is the game, but especially the physical form of the players. A team that used to press all over the field now has to watch others run more and what they did themselves they are repeating to them. It is not about one match, the one against Newcastle, which is 12th in the Premier League.
The fact is that after a tough Copa del Rey defeat to Atletico Madrid, the Blaugrana players seem to be struggling to keep up with the minutes until the end of the match. The Catalans are facing a busy, decisive and demanding schedule, especially in the last week, in which they have had a great deal of wear and tear, the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Atletico Madrid last Tuesday, the LaLiga match on Saturday at San Mamés and yesterday's match in Newcastle on Tuesday. The images on the pitch speak for themselves.
To begin with, the defender was unable to even lift his boots due to discomfort. He was on the bench, but did not even come out to warm up during the match. In addition, the fatigue of Araujo, Bernal, Pedre was very evident. In fact, the Uruguayan player spoke precisely about an action in which the effort took its toll.
Before Newcastle's goal, the Uruguayan collapsed to the ground in cramps and was taken off the field, but he dragged himself back onto the field and the referee reprimanded him for his stance. He forced him off again. He failed to defend his area in the Barnes action "I don't understand the regulations. If I'm able I can enter the field on foot or crawl. I don't understand the referee's decision. He sent me off the field again for treatment. That was the reason I couldn't go and cover Barnes' actions.
He also referred to the team's high attrition. "We are coming from a week with a lot of pressure. The Champions League is a tournament where you have to give your best in every match and we did that against Newcastle. Maybe we arrived a little tired. We had to see when to press and when not. They are a very physical team and we had to choose the moments," said the Catalan defender.
A clear example of the wear and tear was the midfield duo. Pedri had to leave the field in the 70th minute and Flik said that, of course, he had to take care of the result but at the same time he was also worried about the player's health. Three minutes later it was Bernal who left the field. The Catalan collapsed with obvious signs of exhaustion.
"I was absolutely exhausted" - was the only sentence he could say at that moment. Precisely for this reason, coach Flik gave the team a rest on Wednesday. Although the training session was scheduled for this afternoon, the coach decided to cancel the session.
NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR IS EVEN BUSIER
The team will return to training on Thursday. The team does not have much time to recover from the challenge in Newcastle. On Sunday they host Sevilla at the “Spotify Camp Nou” and, next week, they will face the return leg of the Champions League and the confrontation with Rayo Vallecano. / Panorama
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