Hansi Flick: 'We have to focus on ourselves'

Things look more positive for FC Barcelona to go top of the league again after Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid both drew. A win for Barça tomorrow would see Hansi Flick's side move into first place in LaLiga. Not an easy task, though, as Rayo Vallecano are are in great form having gone nine gameweeks unbeaten in the domestic league.

The German coach was quite clear as he spoke to the press in the run up to the match, stating "what's most important for me, my priority, is for our team to focus on ourselves and not look beyond that. Being top of the table is important, sure, and it can help with confidence, but there is a long way to go. So we first have to play 90 minutes against Rayo and win, which won't be easy”.

Flick considers that "Rayo are doing a great job and their coach is incredible". "They already told me when I arrived that it was a very intense team, who press and play well. It's still the same and that's why they are having so much success. They are having a tremendous season and I am sure they will make it difficult for us", he said.

All the same, the coach showed a lot of confidence because he has "the feeling that the team wants to show how good it is, their mentality". "They love training, improving, they enjoy it, and it's really good. You can see this in the competition, because they have more and more confidence. And after games we keep showing we want to keep improving", he assured, going on to add that "we want to perform well like we have in 2025 so far. The quality we have shown in the last few games shows we have grown as a group”.