Flick says winning without Yamal a sign of Barcelona's improvement
Barcelona have a 100% record since Lamine Yamal was sidelined with a groin injury, leading Hansi Flick to praise the depth in his squad.
Hansi Flick believes Barcelona's run of four straight victories without Lamine Yamal in their ranks shows the extent to which they have improved this season.
Yamal has not featured since the international break earlier this month, having aggravated a groin issue when featuring in Spain's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkiye.
But the Blaugrana have shaken off his absence to win four games in a row, maintaining their unbeaten start to the season in LaLiga as well as earning a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United in their Champions League opener.
On Thursday, they recovered from a goal down to beat Real Oviedo 3-1, with Eric Garcia, Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo scoring in the second half.
Barca have averaged 3.25 goals per game without Yamal – who finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting last week – this season.
Flick said of that record: "It's good for the team. We have made the right decisions, the level of the team has improved. But I think it shows that we have a fantastic team."
Barca have won 66.7% of their games without Yamal since he broke into their first team (P18 W12 D1 L5), though that does represent a drop from a 70.6% figure when he is involved.
Amid a busy run, Flick shuffled his pack with Frenkie de Jong and Lewandowski coming off the bench, but he was delighted to see the latter find himself on the scoresheet.
"Not only eleven play. Then there are changes and the players who come on have to help to change the dynamic," Flick added.
"That's what Lewandowski did, and it's important that he not only goes out to score goals, but also to help the team."
Lewandowski has now scored against 21 of the 25 opponents he has faced in LaLiga (72 goals in total), failing only against Almeria, Las Palmas (both four matches), Leganes (two), and Levante (one).
And the Poland international understood why he was limited to 25 minutes plus stoppage time, telling DAZN: "I did what I always do. Hansi did not ask me for anything special.
"Every three days you have a game, we have to manage all the minutes and know how to rotate. If we win, we can say that we have done things well."
Barca are back in action against Real Sociedad on Sunday before hosting Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, with both games being played at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys at Montjuic, following a further delay to their return to Camp Nou.
