- Barcelona suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 4-2 to PSG in a high-scoring Champions League encounter on Tuesday
- Flick pointed to a heavy fixture schedule and a disrupted build-up after severe weather conditions in Seville as factors behind the performance
- The Barcelona manager warned his squad has work to do, with a Clasico against Real Madrid coming up on Sunday
Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has pointed to physical fatigue, poor decision-making, and a disrupted preparation week as the main reasons his side fell to a 4-2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in their UEFA Champions League league-phase meeting on Tuesday, October 20.
The loss was Barcelona's first in 12 games this season and came in a contest that produced 40 attempts on goal between the two sides.
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According to Sky Sports, Desire Doue's opener and a header from Lucas Hernandez were each cancelled out by youngster Xavi Espart and Lamine Yamal, but Barcelona ran out of energy in the closing stages.
Vitinha restored PSG's advantage seconds after Yamal's leveller, and Fabian Ruiz sealed it with a tap-in five minutes later.
Flick blames fatigue for Barcelona defeat
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Flick did not shy away from acknowledging where his team fell short.
The Barcelona manager said the 14 days preceding the match had placed a heavy burden on the squad, and that bad weather following the weekend fixture in Seville had forced the team to spend an unplanned extra night there, cutting into their recovery time, One Football reports.
He also admitted that his players gave the ball away far too cheaply, particularly in the second half, and that PSG's ability to hurt teams on the counter made those errors costly.
"We have committed too many mistakes in this game, especially in possession and with easy losses of the ball," Flick said.
"We have to learn from this match. You don't win titles in October. The Champions League is won in June."
He added:
"They have a lot of quality in transition. We tried to defend against them, and we did it well, but in those last 15 minutes we weren't fresh. We didn't have the best preparation for this game. We have to analyse it and do things better."
Barcelona regroup ahead of El Clasico
Despite the defeat, Flick was careful not to use exhaustion as an excuse.
He acknowledged the quality PSG possess, particularly on quick transitions, and conceded that his side failed to match that intensity when it mattered most.
The result snapped a strong run of form for the Spanish giants, who had gone 11 games unbeaten to open the campaign.
Yamal had pulled Barcelona level and again showed why he remains one of the most electric young players in European football, but even his brilliance could not prevent the eventual collapse in the final quarter of the match.
Barcelona now shift focus to Sunday's meeting with Real Madrid in La Liga, a fixture that carries its own enormous weight regardless of what came before it.
Mysterious cat predicts PSG vs Barcelona clash
Legit.ng previously reported about the Champions League clash between PSG and Barcelona, including Nuno Mendes’ injury and a bold prediction from cat Nimbus Pronos.
The two sides sit first and second in the league-phase table after winning their opening matches, and they have met in Europe for the third straight season.
Source: Legit.ng