Hansi Flick cooled off talk of a potential treble side after his Barcelona team booked a date with rivals Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey – after they defeated Atletico Madrid in Wednesday’s semi-final.
The Catalan giants are unbeaten in 21 games across all competitions and are the only team in Europe’s top five leagues yet to lose in 2025.
However, Flick remains grounded about their chances of winning the treble and has rallied his players to sustain a game-by-game mentality with tiny margins for error.
“I know everyone wants us to talk about the final, it’s a ‘Clasico’, I get that, but I don’t live in the past or in the future and our focus should be Betis, who are our next opponents in LaLiga,” Flick said in a press conference.
“Yes, we are in a great moment but I’ve been in this business enough time to know how everything can change in a heartbeat, so we need to keep focused.
“Dreaming is allowed but first we need to work really hard and stay focused so we can keep that dream alive.”
Barcelona sit at the top of the LaLiga standings with 66 points, three adrift of Real, with third-placed Atletico six points behind in the title race with nine games left to play.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real will travel to London to battle Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals next week while Barca will play host to Borussia Dortmund.
The eternal rivals will meet in the Copa del Rey final on April 26 before they square off again in a potential title decider at Barcelona on May 11 in LaLiga.
“Tonight I’ll stick with this formidable win which made me really happy,” Flick added.
“Everyone can be proud of this team, we coaches are proud of this team. I am always positive, so I won’t deny that I had great expectations for this team when I arrived last summer.
“I told them that I was very happy, that if we played like we did that day we would win. We were brave and we knew how to suffer. It’s not easy to keep a clean sheet in this stadium, Atletico are one of the best teams in Europe. So we should be really proud.”
