Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Friday, February 13, 2026, 4:07 p.m. / Updated Friday, February 13, 2026, 4:08 p.m.
The coach of Barcelona, Hansi Flick, is considered by Spanish journalists to be the main culprit for the failure suffered in Madrid, in front of Atletico, in the first leg of the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup (0-4).
Barcelona had not conceded 4 goals in the first half of an official match since 2020. That was when their current coach, Hansi Flick, managed them with Bayern in a memorable Champions League 'quarter' that ended with an improbable 8-2 victory for the Bavarians.
Then victorious, now defeated, the German technician is considered by Spanish journalists as the main culprit for the disaster in Madrid. The Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo wrote about “Barcelona's worst half since the Flick era”, and Sport labeled it as “a disaster“.
AS: “Flick essentially pointed at itself”
But the toughest one with the German coach was AS. The Madrid newspaper believes that he made “a gigantic mistake, unprecedented for him since he was at Barcelona”, by appointing Marc Casado. The midfielder played extremely poorly and Flick withdrew him from the field after only 37 minutes from the first whistle of the game.
“Following an unprecedented decision since he was at Barcelona, Flick raised his hand, admitted his fault, took responsibility for his error and replaced a completely outdated Casado,” analyzed AS.
The German hugged his player as he left the field, in consolation, but AS claims that the culprit is not Casado, but himself: “Flick pointed at the player, when he made the change, but essentially he pointed at himself.”
At the press conference, self-criticism had no place. The Blaugrana technician took on the referees, bothered by two aspects: the agonizing wait for the analysis of Pau Cubarsi's goal, eventually disallowed for offside, and the fact that Giuliano Simeone did not receive a yellow card for a foul on Alejandro Balde at the very start of the matchsecond 36. Flick believes that unsanctioned entry set the tone for toughs.
Hansi Flick took on the referees: “In my opinion, it was a disaster. A disaster!”
“What should I say? What should I say? I think… Let's start with the yellow cards, OK? Normally the first action, the very first foul on Balde, is a yellow card! That's right, a yellow card. Then maybe everything would have been different. So, [arbitrul] invited them to play in this manner.
But I want to… In my opinion, it was a disaster. A disaster! We had to wait… I don't even know how many minutes? Seven? Let's be serious! And in these 7 minutes they found something, OK.
When I saw the phase, it was clear to me that it was not offside. Clear! In the end they saw something else, but tell us! They didn't communicate at all, I feel very bad about this chapter here,” thundered the German at the press conference.
