Hansi Flick talks Adeyemi, Abdelkarim, Alvarez, Rashford after Barcelona loss to Birmingham | OneFootball

FC Barcelona played their first friendly game of this preseason yesterday as they faced the English Championship side Birmingham City. The Blaugrana team is currently based in the United Kingdom, and this friendly was part of this tour.

Hansi Flick was without several of his first team players for this game, but the Catalan team still put in a very encouraging performance. Hamza Abdelkarim scored a brace, but this was not enough to get a win for his side, as Barcelona fell to a defeat in penalty shootout after the game ended in a 2-2 draw.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, Hansi Flick also talked to the press after the game, in what was his first media appearance since the start of this preseason. The German coach talked about several aspects of this game against Birmingham, and also commented on some transfer operations.

Overall, the Blaugrana coach was happy with his team’s performance in this game:

“[I am] happy with his team’s performance against a tough opponent who will also begin the season with an important cup match.”

Flick was looking forward to seeing even better performances from the new signing Karim Adeyemi, who made an appearance in this game:

The German coach was also full of praise for Hamza Abdelkarim:

“He has great potential, like the rest of the players. The most important thing is that they show their quality, and he has really done that, which I appreciate a lot. Quality is important, but so are intensity and the atmosphere with these young players. It is a pleasure to work with them.”

“He is very humble, and what I feel is that he has great character and a mentality of giving his best version, and that is very good. He has a lot of potential. As a striker, you have to be there; if there is a situation in the box, you have to be there, and that is where he was today. That will give him a lot of confidence for the coming weeks.”

However, the Barcelona coach refrained from showing any desire to have Julian Alvarez in his squad:

When asked about Ferran Torres, Flick was clear he wants to have him for the next season:

“I spoke with him during the World Cup, but now they are on holiday and I respect that. He is our player, and he showed in many matches last season how important he can be for us, and that is what we want.”

Marcus Rashford is not going to be a part of the Barcelona squad for the next season, and the tactician took this opportunity to express his gratitude for his services last season:

“It was a pleasure working with him. He is a fantastic player and a fantastic person. The team will miss him, and I will miss him too, but that is life and something we have to accept.”

Meanwhile, he expressed his excitement about the signing of Anthony Gordon:

“Anthony Gordon arrived, and from the first call I had with him, I could feel that he was ‘on fire’ about Barça and wanted to come. Now I am very happy that he is in our team.”

This was a good opportunity for Hansi Flick to test some of the youngsters in his team, and Hamza Abdelkarim took full advantage of this match to impress his coach. Hopefully, he will continue to get such opportunities in the coming friendlies as well, and play some role in the Barcelona first team next season.