Hansi Flick aims at having a double over Dortmund as he urges his side to stay focused
Hansi Flick is not allowing Barcelona’s focus to drift as he targets a place in the Champions League semi-finals.
Opta’s predictive model is giving LaLiga leaders Barca a 99% probability of reaching he last four after a dominant 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg last week.
Raphinha, former Dortmund star Robert Lewandowski and whizz kid Lamine Yamal were on target in a rout for Barca, in which they tallied up 18 shots and a whopping 3.69 expected goals.
Barca are unbeaten in 24 games in all competitions and Dortmund’s chances of a comeback are bleak, but Flick – who led Bayern Munich to Champions League glory in 2020 – urged his team to keep their foot on the accelerator.
“I have a lot of faith in this team. We have gone through a lot of games without losing and we should be proud of that. I can’t complain about a single one of my players. This team is incredible,” Flick told reporters on Monday.
“The team should enjoy what they’re doing, and we are ready to do it. We want to play well for ourselves and also for the travelling fans who always support us. We won’t let our concentration drop.”
Barca are eyeing up a treble. They are four points clear of Real Madrid in LaLiga and face Los Blancos in the Copa del Rey final on April 26.
Flick, though, has his sights firmly on Tuesday’s match.
“We are only thinking about our game with Dortmund,” he said.
“The rest is for the future. We aren’t looking any further. Our idea of football is about always doing our very best.
“There is a lot of quality in our team and we always take things a game at a time. Playing Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-finals at their stadium is always going to be difficult.”
Among teams to play 10+ games in a European Cup/Champions League campaign, Barca’s goals per game ratio in 2024-25 is the second-best by a team in a single edition (3.3), after Flick’s Bayern in 2019-20 (3.9).
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Key to their imperious form has been the performances of Raphinha and Lewandowski.
Raphinha has been directly involved in 19 goals in 11 Champions League appearances this season (12 goals, seven assists), and could become just the third player to reach 20+ goal involvements in a single edition, after Cristiano Ronaldo (21 in 2013-14, 20 in 2015-16) and Lewandowski (20 in 2019-20).
The Brazil international is just two assists away from matching Luis Figo’s Champions League record of nine assists in a single campaign, which the Portuguese set while playing for Barca in the 1999-2000 season.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, is on 99 Barca goals in all competitions. Should he score on Tuesday, he will become the fourth quickest player to reach that milestone for the club in all competitions.
The Pole has scored 60 goals in 59 Champions League appearances since turning 30, with only Ronaldo netting more in the competition in his thirties (68 goals in 74 games).
