"We didn't expect it to be so rocky. We had seen how they played, we were surprised that they sat off us so much. We knew we had to stretch things and calm down. In the end, it went well. I think these [second-tier] teams prepare us very well for other games, they know how to do their thing very well. They have a lot of quality, that's why it's so difficult for us."
"It was hard, and we played in a great atmosphere. The opponents did very well," Flick said. "In the end, it's 2-0, and that's what counts. The most important thing is that these teams are brave, they have nothing to lose, they only have things to gain and you can see that. It's fantastic to watch."
Barcelona beat Racing Santander 2-0 at El Sardinero in a Copa del Rey tie. Ferran Torres opened the scoring after 66 minutes from Fermin Lopez's defence-splitting pass, and Lamine Yamal added a stoppage-time second with the final kick. Racing, top of LaLiga 2, had two goals disallowed for offside and saw substitute Manex Lozano miss a late one-on-one opportunity. Racing managed just 22.6% possession, six shots and 0.91 expected goals compared to Barcelona's 17 attempts. Torres said Barcelona were surprised by how much Racing sat off them, and Hansi Flick praised Racing's bravery and quality.
Read at Soccer News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]