Hans Flick, the head coach of the Catalan club, spoke during the press conference before the match about the developments regarding Robert Lewandowski’s injury, Marc-André ter Stegen’s situation, and other ideas about the lineup.
Regarding Lewandowski’s injury, Flick said: “Robert is recovering well; his condition is improving better than we expected. We hope he will be ready to return for the second leg against Inter Milan next Tuesday.”
About ter Stegen, he added: “Marc is training excellently and will participate in tomorrow’s match. Goalkeepers need some minutes to regain their rhythm, and I am not thinking of making significant changes to the lineup until the end of the season.”
He continued: “We need to improve in defending set pieces; it’s not just about height, but the way we execute the defense, and Inter affected us a lot in this regard.”
He added: “I can change some things tomorrow, as I need to think about upcoming matches, but for me, the focus now is on winning the match against Valladolid.”
He continued: “We are monitoring Lewandowski and Balde’s progress day by day; both are recovering well, but we do not want to take risks with them; we must be cautious.”
Regarding his opinion on Valladolid, he said: “For them, facing us is an opportunity to prove their team’s level, but we are only focusing on what we can do ourselves.”
About Lamine Yamal, he said: “Lamine Yamal knows exactly what I want from him, and despite his great talent, he must stay calm and continue to improve his level.”
On rotation in upcoming matches, he said: “The Inter match showed that any player can get injured, so we will need to rotate in the coming weeks, especially with the intensity of the matches.”
He concluded his statements by saying: “Our goal is to win the Spanish league title; this requires high performance throughout the season, regardless of the opponent’s strength. We all know how we can drop points in easy matches.”
