FC Barcelona Head Coach Flick Reveals He Feels 'Guilty'

During a prematch press conference ahead of his team's Champions League debut against AS Monaco, FC ... [+] Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick revealed that he feels "guilty" about midfielder Fermin Lopez picking up an injury.

During a prematch press conference to preview his team's Champions League debut against AS Monaco, FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick revealed that he feels "guilty" about midfielder Fermin Lopez picking up a fresh injury.

Fermin returned from a previous knock to his quadriceps, which was suffered on international duty for Spain's U21s, ahead of schedule.

On Monday, however, in his first training session back, the Euro 2024 and Olympic gold medal winner injured his other leg prior to the club estimating his recovery time at three to four weeks.

In a prematch press conference on Wednesday, Flick revealed that he felt "a little guilty" for not stepping in and perhaps preventing Fermin from linking up with La Roja earlier this month.

"In recent days we have gone little by little with the players who are coming out of injury, it is important that they are incorporated little by little and with the workload," Flick said.

"Gavi is also training, he does the rondos like Frenkie de Jong and we have to be careful with his recovery. It's a shame about Fermin because he has played in two tournaments [this summer] and what I can say is that I feel a little guilty because we could have spoken to the U-21 coach.

"He is a very professional player and the news yesterday was not good," Flick added.

Thanks to a knock that Fermin's Spain teammate picked up against Girona at the weekend, Dani Olmo will also be missing in Monaco.

"It's always difficult to replace one player with another," Flick lamented. "With Dani's quality with the ball in front of goal he scores goals and gives assists. We have to accept that we don't have him and I hope that without Olmo we can maintain the level of the last few games."

Barca of course boasts a 100% record in 2024/2025 thus far which Culers would like them to maintain on the continent.

"I think we've played very well," Flick stated. "This is the idea, you can see how we press, the commitment of the players. The team has a lot of quality.

"Many players were very young when we started in pre-season, then the internationals came and raised the level. We want to transmit the philosophy, but it is the players who have to do it on the pitch and to date with five victories they are doing it," he concluded on this.