Barcelona manager Hansi Flick reacts to selection dilemmas for Champions League opener – “I need eight hours of rest” | OneFootball

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has a number of selection decisions to make for Thursday’s Champions League opener against Newcastle United. Lamine Yamal is not available, but aside from the wing positions, he has other areas that need to be clarified.

One of those is in central defence. Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia started together against Valencia, but given that Newcastle will pose a more physical threat, there are chances for Ronald Araujo and/or Andreas Christensen to start. As per Diario AS, Flick gave his thoughts during his pre-match press conference.

“We’ll see which partnership I put in. Cubarsí is also fine. I have no doubts. We’ll see what I do tomorrow. We have to adapt a little to the style of the opponent. In every game it is like that. We have to look at what we do depending on the opponent. We have had a lot of time to prepare it. If we have spaces, we have to take advantage of them.”

Image via Koji Watanabe/Cadena SER

Flick reacts to starter debate among two strikers

Flick will also need to decide who leads the line at St James’ Park. Ferran Torres has started all four matches this season, but Robert Lewandowski netted twice off the bench during the weekend victory over Valencia. Barcelona’s head coach confirmed that he has yet to make that decision.

“I have to watch the training session and then I need eight hours of rest to decide.”

Flick also gave his thoughts on how he will be approaching every match in the league phase, for which the wait for Barcelona and their supporters ends in 24 hours’ time.

“In my experience it’s always to give your best in every game. We saw it last year. We learned and we have to be better every day. From last year’s Champions League and from every game. I think everyone shows how good they are. We have a young team, with three casualties. Tomorrow we will see. I want to see what we did against Valencia tomorrow. We have to show what we are capable of.”