Barcelona manager Hansi Flick showed little enthusiasm for his side’s comfortable 3-0 win over Mallorca in their opening game of the new La Liga season, criticizing the players for operating at “only 50%” after their opponents were reduced to nine men.
The Blaugrana kicked off their title defence with victory on Saturday, as Raphinha and Ferran Torres struck within the opening 23 minutes before Lamine Yamal sealed the result with a late third. However, the scoreline did not fully reflect the drama of the contest.
Mallorca saw both Manu Morlanes and Vedat Muriqi dismissed before half-time. Morlanes earned a second yellow for bringing down Yamal in full stride, while Muriqi saw a straight red for serious foul play after catching new Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia in the face with a raised boot.
Hansi Flick’s men dominated after the break, pinning their inferior opponents deep and recording 17 attempts, six of which hit the target. Yet their third goal did not arrive until stoppage time. Despite the comfortable result, Flick voiced his frustration with his players’ lack of intensity when holding a two-man advantage.
“I didn’t like the game. They are three important points, but I didn’t like the game,” Flick told Movistar. “After going 2-0 up and with the red cards, the team played at 50% and I didn’t like it at all. We will talk about it.
“Of course, I didn’t like it, we had control of the ball and the game. We have to score and that’s all we can say. It’s not possible to play at 50 or 60%, even against nine players. It was a bit strange, it’s not normal that in the first half a team is down by two players. We knew how to play the game. We would have liked to have scored the third goal earlier.”
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