The reason why Jules Kounde didn’t start against Deportivo Alavés – Report | OneFootball

“FC Barcelona had another memorable game against Deportivo Alaves in La Liga last night. Hansi Flick’s men triumphed 3-0, with Polish veteran Robert Lewandowski scoring all three goals in an incredible first-half performance.

If one were to be critical, one could argue that Barcelona could have scored even more than they did. Defensively, Iñaki Peña did not cover himself in glory and should thank the backline for maintaining an effective offside trap.

One surprising change that Flick made to the defensive line for the game was benching Jules Kounde for Hector Fort. The Frenchman was one of the only two players along with Lewandowski to have started every single game for the German boss prior to the Alaves clash.

Initially, considering the number of minutes that Kounde has played since the beginning of the season and Flick’s constant trend of rotation, everyone assumed that it was the 25-year-old Frenchman’s turn to rest against Alaves.

However, as per SPORT, the reason for his omission from the starting line-up was different. Kounde had turned up late for Hansi Flick’s pre-match talk and the German coach decided to punish him for his tardiness on the night.

The coach had already warned the players on a number of occasions about the importance of punctuality and decided to send a message with Kounde against Alaves. This meant that Hector Fort finally got a chance to start this season.

Flick’s punishment was not too strict considering he brought on Kounde to see out the last 30 minutes of the game. The Frenchman, who had played 900 out of 900 minutes for Barcelona prior to this game has finally received some much-deserved rest, although not in a way he would have liked.

By reprimanding Jules Kounde, Flick has sent a clear message to the dressing room that tardiness will not be tolerated. One can only hope that the players take a cue from this and do not find themselves in such situations going forward. Let’s wait and see how it goes.