Hansi Flick airs his disappointment with the referee and his pride in the team following Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona | OneFootball

FC Barcelona saw their UEFA Champions League campaign come to an end as they fell to a 4-3 defeat to Inter Milan in extra time of the second leg of the semi-finals. Overall, this was a highly entertaining tie which ended in a 7-6 aggregate score, but unfortunately, the Catalans were eliminated despite their heroic performance.

Hansi Flick was naturally quite unhappy with this elimination, but assured the Blaugrana fans that he would bring this team back next year to win the top European competition as he spoke to the press in his post-match presser, which has been covered by SPORT.

The German coach spoke highly of his team despite the elimination:

The Barcelona manager highlighted the reasons for his side’s defeat:

“What happened is that Inter play too, and they’re a great team. They defend very well, have very good forwards, keep possession, and have great automatisms… I don’t want to talk too much about the referee, but every 50/50 decision went their way. We gave it our all, and it turned out the way it did.”

Hansi Flick continued to complain about the referee’s performance:

“We’re out and we’re disappointed. Some decisions were 50/50 and always went Inter’s way, but we have to accept it. I’m very proud of my team. Sometimes it’s like this, sometimes you feel it’s a bit unfair—some of the referee’s decisions were unfair and didn’t go our way—but we have to accept it and start again. Winning the Champions League is one of our goals, and we’ll be back.”

Barcelona playing against Inter Milan. [Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images]

However, the German tactician held himself from criticising the referee beyond this:

“I think about it (the referee), but I don’t want to talk too much about it because it’s not fair to my team. They did an enormous job. I told the referee what I think, but I’m not going to say it here.”

The Blaugrana trainer was clear that he and the team will learn from this loss and come back stronger next year:

“We will learn. It’s a progression. We want to keep learning. Right now we don’t have much time to train, but next season we’ll be back.”

For now, Hansi Flick was already looking forward to the next Barcelona match:

“Right now it’s normal for us to be disappointed, but on Thursday we’ll be back in training. I’ve talked too much about the referee, but I also want to wish Inter good luck in Munich.”

There is no doubt it was a hard night for the Blaugrana fans but they can still be proud of their team that never quit and gave its all to ensure its passage to the final of the competition. Hopefully, Barcelona will now continue their charge towards the La Liga title and hopefully get another trophy before the season ends.