believes the only way to limit the impact of Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe is to press him as much as possible when the two sides face off in a La Liga encounter at the Camp Nou on Sunday.
“How to stop Mbappe? The only way to do that is to position ourselves well without the ball, and press him by advancing our defensive line,” Flick told reporters on the eve of the match.
Hansi Flick
The task of stopping the explosive Frenchman, who has netted nine goals to go along with two assists in the league this season, will fall on the shoulders of Barcelona’s young centre-back duo of Pau Cubarsi (19) and Gerard Martin (24), who struggled in the mid-week loss to Paris Saint-Germain (2-4) . However, the German coach expressed full confidence in their ability to bounce back in the ‘El Clasico’.
“Cubarsi and Martin are playing very well. What they’re doing is incredible and they are continuing to grow as a partnership,” said Flick, whose side are table toppers, with 27 points from nine games.
He also stressed they’ve been working on their set-piece defending ahead of the blockbuster fixture.
“We know Real Madrid are one of the best teams in terms of set-pieces. So we’ll need to defend better than we did against Paris. We talked about it and rehearsed it,” explained the Catalan giant’s coach.
Meanwhile, preferred to keep his cards close to his chest when asked how they plan to deal with Barcelona’s ace winger Lamine Yamal, who has notched up 10 goals and 10 assists in just 12 games across all competitions this season.
“Yamal is a great player and we’ll respect him, but we won’t change our plans, structures, or forget own essence in the process,” said the Los Blancos boss, whose side are third in the league, trailing Barcelona by six points.