Furious Flick says Barcelona were fortunate to draw at Celta

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick said his errant players only had themselves to blame for their 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo in LaLiga, adding they were fortunate to even escape with a point.

Barca opened a two-goal lead thanks to efforts from captain Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, but after Marc Casado was sent off in the 82nd minute, the hosts fought back with two late strikes.

Alfon Gonzalez and Hugo Alvarez were on target as Celta denied Barca the chance to move eight points clear at the summit, and Flick said his side could have few complaints.

“It wasn’t only the last few minutes, we played a really bad game tonight,” Flick told DAZN.

“If you don’t play at 100% you can’t win. That’s just the way it was the whole game. We have to be honest.

“These things happen. It was a bad game. The players are not happy. Everyone can play better than what we did today. You have to stay focused. Sometimes it may seem that what we do is easy, but it is not.”

Flick would not point fingers at Casado for the red card or defender Jules Kounde for a bad mistake that led to Celta’s first goal. Instead, he criticised his side’s collective effort and performance levels.

“The red card and Kounde’s mistake are just a consequence of the bad game from the team. We made a lot of mistakes and lacked confidence on the ball throughout the match,” Flick said.

“We didn’t play the football we are used to but we were lucky with some situations and in the end got a point but we have to react because it cannot be repeated.

“I hope what we saw today doesn’t have a negative impact in our Champions League game against Brest on Tuesday. We have to learn with the mistakes we move on.”

Barca top LaLiga with 34 points, five ahead of Atletico Madrid in second and seven ahead of third-placed Real Madrid, who have two games in hand.