(Reuters) – Barcelona coach Hansi Flick tempered expectations and said on Tuesday it was still too early to think about silverware despite making an outstanding start in his first season at the club with 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions.
The German coach said he understood fans’ excitement after a 4-0 LaLiga win over Real Madrid in the Clasico at the Bernabeu and a 4-1 thrashing of Bayern Munich in the Champions League two weeks ago, but urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still ahead.
“We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League),” Flick told a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match at Red Star Belgrade.
“For the moment, we’re going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we’ll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.
“A team’s form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed. But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight.”
Flick said he was not surprised by his side’s impressive performances following a trophyless campaign last season that ended with the firing of manager Xavi Hernandez.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany manager praised his squad’s talent and said that he just had to help them play to their strengths.
“Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall,” Flick said.
“Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.
“The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot. The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve.”
Barcelona are 11th in the 36-team Champions League table with six points, while Red Star are languishing in 33rd spot with no points after three games.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Toby Davis)
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