Barcelona 5% more motivated in Champions League than in LaLiga, says Flick

Hansi Flick admits his Barcelona players are 5% more motivated in Champions League matches compared to LaLiga, as they gear up for Saturday's derby against Espanyol.

The Blaugrana suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Wednesday, with the game turning on Pau Cubarsi's red card late in the first half.

While they have a mountain to climb to keep their European dream alive, Barca are strong favourites to retain their domestic title with eight games still to play.

They are seven points clear of Real Madrid going into matchday 31, though Los Blancos are in action first, hosting Girona on Friday.

Flick's team then welcome neighbours Espanyol to Camp Nou on Saturday, having not lost at home to them since February 2009, when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of the visitors.

But Flick says it is normal that the Champions League takes up more of Barca's energy, saying: "Of course, LaLiga is the basis, that's why you're playing in the Champions League.

"But the dream for every player, club, fans, coaches is to win Champions League; to play in the Champions League. This is why we are here.

"In every game you see the team is 5% more than 100% motivated. This is the competition, this is why we are here.

"We have to do our daily job in LaLiga, but in the end the most important thing is to win the Champions League. This is the goal from my side, the players and the club."

On Thursday, Barca released an extraordinary statement in which they requested an investigation into the way their game against Atleti was officiated, after Marc Pubill avoided conceding a penalty for seemingly handling the ball from a goal-kick inside his own area. 

"It's great the club supports us," Flick said. "Everyone knows it was really unfair. You can make a mistake once but not twice [the referee and the VAR], in a crucial situation.

"When we have VAR, if there's something he sees that is not correct, he has to call and say 'Now look at this.' I didn't see this in our match. 

"In the end, we also didn't play our best game on Wednesday. We also make some mistakes. But this is really crucial. For us it's not good. The game is decided and does not feel good."

Espanyol are 10th in the table, only three points adrift of seventh-placed Real Sociedad and still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Barcelona – Dani Olmo

Olmo has scored three goals in three matches against Espanyol in LaLiga. 

He has not scored more goals against any other opponent in his entire career in the competition or the Bundesliga (also three against Hoffenheim, with RB Leipzig).

Espanyol – Marko Dmitrovic

Since the start of March, Espanyol's Dmitrovic has made the most saves of any goalkeeper in LaLiga (26). 

In his last match against Real Betis, he equalled his highest number of saves in a single game in the competition without conceding a goal (six, also against Real Betis with Eibar in 2019).

MATCH PREDICTION – BARCELONA WIN 

Flick has won his first three matches against Espanyol in LaLiga as Barca's head coach, and he could become only the second manager to win his first four matches in the history of this Catalan derby, after Helenio Herrera, who won his first five between 1958 and 1980.

In addition, Barca are unbeaten in their last 29 LaLiga matches against Espanyol (W22 D7), their longest unbeaten run against a single opponent and the longest unbeaten streak by a team in any derby in the competition's history.

But the Blaugrana did lose to Girona in February, so they could suffer defeat in two Catalan derbies in a single LaLiga season for only the second time in the last 58 years (two defeats against Girona in 2023-24) and for the first time against different opponents since 1966-67 (2-0 vs Espanyol and 2-0 vs CD Sabadell).

Espanyol have not won any of their last 13 LaLiga matches (D5 L8), their worst winless run in a single season in the competition since February 2009 (14 games – D6 L8).

Barcelona have won 23 and lost four of their last 27 LaLiga matches, their longest historical run without a draw in the competition.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY 

Barcelona – 69.1%

Espanyol – 13.7% 

Draw – 17.2%